


Fighting Oblivion

by LightOfLanayru



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Corruption, Friendship/Love, Gen, Hank Anderson & Connor Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mild Blood, Sad with a Happy Ending, Some Humor, Supportive Hank Anderson, Virus, scared connor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-16
Updated: 2019-08-20
Packaged: 2019-08-24 08:48:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 27
Words: 46,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16636730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LightOfLanayru/pseuds/LightOfLanayru
Summary: After the revolution, Connor investigates his Mindscape to see if Amanda still resides within him. Little does he know that she has something in store for him. Connor struggles as she wreaks the havoc of corruption through his body. He has to try and keep it together for as long as he can, still trying his best to help Hank on missions, but when more and more programming shuts down, it turns out to be a lot more difficult than Hank or Connor could imagine.





	1. Snowfall

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, this is my first fiction work for Detroit: Become Human! This is one of many chapters I currently have written and will continue posting throughout Nanowrimo! I hope you all enjoy :)

_  
_ The snow fell slow and silently onto the earth covering the tops of the houses and cars. Pure white surrounded Connor as he sat on the sidewalk outside of Hank's house. His mind felt numb at the memories that had just recently unfolded to him. The revolution was finally over and Androids had their freedom. He pulled his knees to his chest, letting his arms and chin rest on top as he stared into the gray sky. The last bit of sunlight saying it's farewell as it sunk beyond the horizon. He could have easily stopped the revolution by killing it's leader Markus, but he hesitated, he began to understand something beyond what could be programmed. Emotion. Empathy. Fear. Why in that moment did he break? Why did he so easily abandon his mission? Is it possible that somewhere within his program was the dormancy of a machine that wished to be free? He lowered his eyes towards the ground, taking a deep breath and allowing the cold air to slip past his lips. There were two paths to be followed, one was the mission, and the other he could only place as being destiny. Maybe it's the way things are supposed to be and maybe it's okay for Androids to feel. That in itself was something that was going to take a while to adjust to. His LED flashed yellow, then red for a split second as he squinted his eyes. He wasn't human, yet he was still alive, still capable of just about everything a human could do, in fact even more. Was Amanda still a part of him? He scanned through his programs as his eyes flickered back and forth, file after file passed in front of his eyes.  
  
_Open Mindscape?  
Yes/No_  
  
He blinked rapidly and shook his head, clearing the window out of his vision. His heart rate began to rise as he stood. He imagined the garden in his mind's eye for a split second, then tried to focus elsewhere. He couldn't attempt to access the Mindscape without someone being by to make sure things don't get out of hand. He was the most advanced model made before Cyberlife was stalled, he had no one to learn from, no one to help him understand. As his mind became more human, more complicated, he knew that it would be near impossible for anyone to help him. He considered Kamski for a moment but decided it would just be best to talk to Hank. Whenever he decided to show up that is. Perhaps the advances in his programming would override Amanda's, maybe she just simply ceased to exist. The concept brought him some comfort, but until he was sure, he couldn't let his guard down.  
  
Connor left the precinct earlier in an attempt to clear his head, knowing good and well it would be several hours before Hank returned home as well. All the cases were overwhelming as well. Even though Androids were given rights, there were so many people that were against them. Afraid of them. But why? He understood that in the past Androids did things when deviating, but they were confused and scared. In no way justifying the things they did, but humans could do unspeakable things as well, but they can't fear everyone.  
  
The sunlight diminished and the streetlights flickered on, catching Connor's attention. He watched the snowfall and outstretched his hand, catching a snowflake and studying the intricacies of the fractals. Every single one of them different, unique, captivating. It melted into his palm and he simply reached for another one, analyzing what made the patterns different and what made them the same. He couldn't tell how long we stood there, admiring the snow for the first time, minutes, hours, he couldn't tell. Perhaps he'd gone into a standby mode without realizing it. He was soon brought out of his daydreaming by the sound of a car muffler revving, then a car door slamming.  
  
"Holy shit, Connor, how long have you been out here?" Hank's voice boomed and Connor almost jumped.  
  
"Sorry Lieutenant, I must have been distracted." He replied to the older man, then finally broke his eyes away from the sky to look at Hank. Connor's face was almost expressionless.  
  
  
"You've got icicles hanging off of you!" Hank flicked off the small ice spear hanging off his nose. "You need to get inside before you freeze to death." He grumbled rustling in his pocket for the house keys, the Android following close behind. Connor's expression changed into a small smile as Sumo, the beautiful Saint Bernard trotted up to him, tail wagging and tongue flopping. Sumo soon returned to his bed by the tv, completely ignoring Hank. The door was shut with a small click and everything was suddenly still without the outside wind.  
  
"You're a traitor, I hope you know that, Sumo." Hank gave a low laugh as he slipped off his large black jacket and hung it up on the rack by the front door. "Have you been out there since you got home, Connor?" He furrowed his brow in concern as he eyed the Android.  
  
"I..." Connor started. "I believe I have. I don't quite know what overcame me. I was so deep in thought, it almost became like a dream. A daydream."  
  
"You're telling me you were out there for five hours?"  
  
  
"Yes." Connor gave a quick nod and Hank let out a gruff sigh.  
  
"I'm surprised you're crazy android blood didn't freeze." Hank walked over to the fridge, grabbing a beer and popping it open before returning to the living room and plopping down on the couch.  
  
"Thirium has an extremely low freezing point, combined with my temperature regulation, I'm able to tolerate much more than a light snow."  
  
"Light snow, my ass." Hank snorted as he took a sip of his drink. "It's 15 degrees out there and the wind chill is pushing negative."  
  
"By definition, the weather conditions-" Hank held up his hand to stop the android from saying anything else.  
  
"It was more of an opinion anyway." The man brushed the snow out of his beard. "I'd hate to see what your definition of a heavy snow is." He shook his head. Connor sat down on the opposite end of the couch as they were surrounded by silence for a few minutes, then Hank turned on the TV.  
Not long after, Connor spoke.  
  
"Lieutenant." He paused. "Can I ask you a question?"  
  
"Shoot." He raised his drink, eyes still locked on the television. However, that wasn't satisfactory enough for Connor. He turned towards the TV, LED flashing yellow then the TV's volume flicked to zero. The man turned towards Connor with his eyes squinted. "Did you just mute my TV with your damn head?"  
  
"That's exactly what I did. You're very observant." He said in an almost teasing voice. Hank groaned.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
Connor looked down, hands resting on his knees in his rather stiff sitting position. "Since the Android revolution ended...I was wondering if Amanda was still built into my programming." He looked up at Hank. "I searched through my files, but I was unable to locate her there. I was considering accessing my Mindscape to see if she still resided in the garden, but I was afraid I would lose control." He paused. "I fear she might attempt to take over my body."  
  
Hank pursed his lips as he let out a hmm. "Do you have, like, a recycling bin?"  
  
"Pardon?"  
  
"You know." He gestured vaguely. "It's a little bin computers have on their desktops to get rid of files they don't want." He shrugged. "Throw that bitch out."  
  
"I'm afraid this _bitch_ is not that easy to get rid of." Connor's matter of fact voice made Hank stifle a laugh then sighed.  
  
"I know." He patted Connor's shoulder. "But you don't even know if she's in there, right? And if she wanted to control you, she could do that whether or not you were in your Mindscape, right?" The Android's LED rested in a solid red.  
  
"You're right." He paused. "I-I could be a potential danger to my friends, perhaps deactivation would be the best choice before that happens."  
  
"Connor!" Hank said loudly, placing his drink on the coffee table before turning towards him. "We are not going to deactivate you! Especially over something that you can't even confirm!" Connor's LED turned yellow and Hank placed his hands on his shoulders, the gesture bringing his LED back to a steady blue.  
  
"I may have overreacted. I'm sorry."  
  
"You don't have to apologize, Con." Hank sighed pulling his hands away and adjusting himself into his previous position on the couch. "I personally think you should access your brain garden-"

 "Mindscape." Connor corrected and Hank frowned.

 "I'm trying to give you advice here."

"My apologies. Proceed." He stated flatly.

Hank paused for a moment, considering his words before he spoke. "You won't know unless you try. You can either live in the fear that she's going to take you over, or you can face that fear and find out if she's really in there." His expression was soft and genuine as he spoke to the Android.

"Okay." Connor closed his eyes, LED spinning yellow as he tilted his head. "I'll hopefully be right back."

   
 _Open Mindscape?_

_Yes/No_

**_(Yes)_ **

 


	2. The Mind's Eye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tell me, Connor. What does it feel like to be lost inside one's own mind?

His senses began to fade until he was no longer aware of his body. Light, weightless, still. No longer processing the living room he was once in, but instead, coming into focus was another realm. He was now on his feet, light shining down on him as he blinked rapidly. The breeze swaying the hem of his shirt and his tie, disheveling his hair slightly as well. He processed the scents of flowers around him. They were perfect, not a single plant struggling to survive. This sparked a fear within him. She had to still be here if the garden was perfect. Right? He froze in his spot as a large gust of wind brushed past him, rustling the thousands of leaves above his head, a few falling down around him and drifting into the waterways. Everything seemed so slow and quiet as he made his first step onto the stone path that led over the water each one a little harder than the last, heart a little heavier in his chest,  but he finally made it. In front of him were hundreds of roses crawling up a white lattice, they seemed wild and free. Unkempt, but beautiful. When he turned the corner, he braced himself but his heart instantly became light once he realized that Amanda wasn't there. A smiled overcame him as he reached up to one of the roses, stroking the soft petal with his thumb. If she wasn't there, it meant that he wouldn't have to worry about being taken over. He gave a few more cautious glances around him, before turning back. If she wasn't there, did that mean that maybe this was _his_ garden? Perhaps that could be fun.  
  
It would give him something to do at night, something to get away from reality. Just as humans would dream, perhaps this would be his way of dreaming. It was so nice and calm, there was no need to fight or worry about dying. He let out an 'hmm' as he grabbed a rose and began picking the petals off of it, letting them fall onto the ground and into the water that surrounded the platform. Would this be considered a dream if he was fully conscious of where he was both in the Mindscape and in the real world? It was the very fact that he understood fully where he was that he began to wonder if it could be considered a dream.  
  
"A lucid dream." He whispered to himself. "It's just like a human's lucid dream." Albeit more consistent than a dream. Static and unchanging. So much so that the plants grew in real time. Everything was always right where it was left and he found comfort in the consistency. When the finally rose petal hit the ground, he let the stem fall with it. How truly strange it is to be fully aware of thinking whilst in a dream.  
  
There was a curiosity building within him. One of which questioned whether or not other androids had the same garden. Would there be a way to synchronize between androids so that they could share the same Mindscape? Or perhaps, in this case, it would be a Mindspace since it didn't necessarily have to be a garden. He took a deep breath. Everything seemed to be okay. Everything felt okay. He briefly closed his eyes and ran a diagnostics to make sure. A green 'Normal' began to appear after every function. Biocomponets were okay, circuitry, and memory. Then, suddenly an urgent box appeared in his vision.  
  
_Critical Error_System_  
  
He furrowed his brow, allowing the message to show more of what was going on.  
Something was wrong with the Mindscape.exe. It was wavering in and out of responsiveness, but he was somehow unaware. How could he not notice unless he was doing the same?  
  
"Connor..." A disembodied voice called out, causing his eyes to widen, looking around frantically.  
  
"Amanda?" He called out, voice laced with fear and anger. She continued to speak, but her words were broken, unable to form correctly.  
  
"You....did this....to me..." Her voice finally rang through, full of static and hate causing Connor's heart to drop.  
  
"I didn't do anything to you!" He yelled back. His looked down at his hands as they began to tremble. "You need to remove yourself from my programming immediately." The sky began to grow darker, clouds swirling in the sky as they seemed to appear out of nowhere.  
  
"Cor...rup...tion." Her voice was barely human at this point and it shook him to his core. Thunder cracked in the distance as the rain began pouring from above, slicking his hair down. He covered his ears as the static grew into a high pitched roar around him. His head felt light as he pressed his hands into his temples harder. He sunk to the ground in an attempt to hide from the searing noise around him. It was simply too much to take in all at once, it made his systems fuzzy like he couldn't focus. It almost felt like his systems were being scrambled around.  
  
"Stop!" He gasped as he tried to catch his breath." That's enough!" The noise gave one last blast before all that could be heard was the rain washing over him and the thunder rolling in across the garden. He pulled his shaking hands away from his head and let his eyes wander around, before focusing on the clouds, watching the droplets come into view. He felt like he was begging a god for mercy and that maybe somehow, she would just leave him alone. What did she mean by corruption? Did he corrupt her upon going fully deviant? He closed his eyes. Trying to summon the escape.  
  
_Error Code: 150497_  
_Unable to retrieve requested function  
  
_"Damn it!" He growled, closing his eyes tighter as if someway that would help.  
  
_Error Code: 150497_  
_Unable to retrieve requested function_  
  
"Amanda, this isn't funny!" His LED leveled out into red. "Is this a game to you?" He felt panic quaking in his stomach as his heart pounded out of his chest. The garden suddenly felt so much smaller around him, as if the outside world no longer existed and he was stuck within a nightmare. His entire body locked up, he was unable to move, unable to run away. Compleated and utterly trapped and helpless. He felt a hand grab his chin tightly and angle his head upwards. The figure before him was invisible, light glistening enough to hint a human form.  
  
"You did this to me..." The grip grew tighter. "You corrupted me." He knew right away it was Amanda. He tried to speak, but he was completely frozen in place.  
"You will pay for what you did to me." With that, the grip was released and his head dropped back down like a doll's, completely paralyzed. Again and again, he tried to summon the menu to escape, but the error code kept popping up. He felt as though the rain was eventually going to consume and drown him. He'd never felt fear like this before. How long was this going to last? Was he going to be like this for the rest of his existence? Stuck in the garden that was now his hell? He had to get out of there. He had to get back to Hank and his friends and even Sumo. But how? Anxiety was boiling inside of him and he knew he had to act. He had to come up with a plan, but everything and every thought were trying to pass through his head at once. He felt like he was losing his mind. Emotions were clouding his thoughts and he knew it. They were taking over and distracting him from what he knew he needed to do.  
  
Focus. Focus. He had to focus. There had to be another way to access the escape. There's always a backdoor. He scanned through his programs as fast as he could, going through different tangents of folders. Eyes rolled back and forth erratically, the only part of his body he was able to keep control of. It was much harder to locate the file since he had to manually scroll through them all. One by one by one. Frustration filled his unmoving form, but he persisted non-the-less.  
It felt like hours until he finally found the folder properties for his Mindscape. He willed it to opened and scrolled through every inch of the data, until finally. Finally. He found what he was looking for.  
  
The code was broken and encrypted. He felt as though his entire body was being bombarded by a heavier gravity. Come on. He would have screamed had he'd been able to, but instead, he began to re-arrange and decipher the code. Different parts turned red in alert of an error, which there happened to be far too many of those. A simple thing out of place sent the rest of the code into disarray. Steadily each part of the code was corrected and put back into place in perfect synchronicity with one another. The window he'd been waiting for appeared and he responded without hesitation.  
  
_Exit Mindscape?_

_Yes/No  
_

 

 

**_(Yes)_ **


	3. Awaken

  
_Connor? Connor!_

Hank's voice called out to him but sounded so far away. No matter how hard he tried to reach out into the darkness, he couldn't get any closer to the voice. The faintest bit of light shone on the back of his frame, illuminating him and casting his shadow on the ground below. He turned to face the light to find an enormous screen looming over him seamlessly floating but fixed in space.  
  
 _File_Corrupted_

_Perform a hard reset to clear damaged files_

He swallowed hard, watching as the words were typed on the screen, flashing ominously. He took a few steps away. Everything was so empty and wrapped around it was the deafening silence so intense he could hear his own heart beating in his chest. He lifted his chin up, a determined expression washing over his face. He reached his hand out, spreading his fingers just before they hit the screen. A deep chime erupted from all around as he pushed forward.

_Confirm hard reset?_

He cautiously pressed his finger on yes, causing a blue swirling circle to appear in the center of the screen. Then just like falling asleep, everything vanished, just as quick as it had begun. Washed away into what could only be explained as non-existence. Nothing. No thoughts, no dreams, no feelings.

It felt like an empty eternity until his eyes opened, fixing on the swirling ceiling fan above him. A few whimpers came from fluffy Sumo as he rested his head on the couch, nudging Connor lightly. He reached out to pet the Saint Bernard as he let out a slow breath. Happy to be out of whatever trap he was in.

"Connor?" He heard Hank's voice ring out from behind him. "Oh, thank God, I thought you were..." His voice was full of concern. "Your LED went completely out and I couldn't wake you." He crouched down in front of the Android, patting Sumo so he'd move. "What the hell happened?

"I had to perform a hard reset." His voice was quiet, almost weak. His head felt a bit foggy as his systems began revving back up. Connor ran a hand through his dark brown hair and groaned. "I'm having difficulties remembering why I had to execute it."  
  
"Don't strain yourself." Hank stood. "I'm glad you're okay."  
  
"You and me both."

"Do you need any of that fancy blue robo-koolaid?"

"No, Hank, I don't need any Thirium." Connor practically laughed, slowly sitting up, placing an arm on the back of the couch. It did, however, feel like his blue blood was rushing out of his head. Why was it so hard to remember? He knew something just happened, but only vague movements and intentions were there. It was right there.

"Did you manage to find Amanda?" Hank walked to the back of the couch and leaned over, looking at Connor. That was it. That's what he needed to remember. His LED switched to red as he grabbed Hank's arm tightly, staring him dead in the eyes. "Connor...?"

"She's there, Hank." Connor's voice was hoarse. "But somethings not right..." His expression was a mixture of anger and confusion."Her files have been corrupted." He looked down, loosening his grip. "What if she tries to corrupt me?"

"She doesn't have that kind of power, does she? None of your other gadgets can do that, right?" Hank questioned full attention on the Android. Connor bit his lip and shuffled on the couch.

"I was trapped. I couldn't escape. There were so many errors, Hank. I had to fix my own coding and do a hard reset just to wake up." His breathing was beginning to pick up, internal temperature rising. "You don't understand, She's a part of my programming and if she's corrupted, my Mindscape and codes are corrupted...I-I..." He froze for a moment. "I'm scared, Hank."

"It's going to be okay, Connor." Hank said firmly. "We're going to get this figured out and we'll fix you right up." He placed his hand on Connor's that was still digging into his arm. "You're kind of cutting my circulation off, Con." The Android quickly loosened his grip, muttering an apology. "Can we back you up on a flash drive?"

"Um." Connor blinked a few times. "Technically you could if it had sufficient space on it, but my data is backed up through Cyberlife. The issue is transmitting my data without the corrupted files."

"Yeah." Hank nodded. "I guess you're right, but can the corruption spread?"

Connor sat in silence for a few moments as his LED spun yellow as he thought. "If she imposes herself as a virus, then there's no telling what she could do to my systems..." He shuddered at the thought.

"I know all of this is confusing. Hell, I don't even understand half of it, but we can bring you into Cyberlife and see if they can help. That's kind of their specialty, huh?" He patted Connor's shoulder. "They should know what to do."

"That's true..." Connor trailed off. "Going there makes me uneasy, but I suppose it's a lot better than whatever's going on in my head." He tried to stand and immediately began to topple over. Had it not been for Hank grabbing the back of his jacket and pulling him back, he would have fallen into the coffee table.

"Easy, Connor!" He helped the Android sit back down. "Are you okay?"

"I...think so." He looked down at his palms tapping his thumbs on his other fingers. "I think I require a recalibration. It shouldn't take long."

"Are you sure?" Hank asked wearily. "Last time you said that you were out for eight hours."

Connor snapped back towards Hank. "I was out for that long?"

"Yeah, like I said. I was pretty worried."

Connor nodded. "I can imagine so." He began running through his calibration routine. He moved his arms, then legs, moved his eyes, then fingers. "Everything seems alright." He paused. "However, I've never had to do a hard reset before. It's possible that it put a stress on my systems."

Hank left the room for a moment, the sound of shuffling and then a door shutting followed. It wasn't long before he returned, chunking a light brown blanket at him. "You need to rest."

"Android's don't need-"

"I don't want to hear it. You need to take a break after what you went through."

Connor unfolded the blanket slightly, registering the softness. Did he really need to rest? Would it do him any good?  
"What about the precinct? I need to be there. With all the cases coming in, they're going to need my help."

"I'll tell them I forgot to put you on the charger last night." Hank said, adorning his jacket.

"Did you not sleep last night?" Connor question, concerned.

"I wasn't going to sleep while I thought you were dead on the couch, Con." He said rather annoyed. "Thought I was going to hafta call Cyberlife to reboot you or some shit." His keys jingled as he pulled them off the table.

"I'm sorry to have inconvenienced you." He said, genuinely feeling bad about it.

"It's okay." Hank sighed. "It's nothing a few cups of coffee can't solve." He gave a small smile as he walked towards the door. "Do you think you're going to be okay on your own for a while?"

"Yes, I believe so. There appear to be no issues with my standby mode, so I will activate that for the time being. Hopefully, this will allow my systems to fully come back on and my files to sort themselves out correctly." He made a clicking sound, calling the large fluffy dog over. "Sumo will be with me. Whilst he is unable to provide technical insight he does happen to provide emotional support."

"Alright." Hank nodded. "Call if you need anything. With a phone or your head or however Android's go about it."

"Okay." Connor responded, LED flashing yellow for a few moments. Maybe it wouldn't be the best thing to be alone at this time, but then again would being at the precinct be any better? The fear that he could possibly hurt someone there caused him grief, and he finally assured himself that staying home would be the best option at this point. His LED then turned back to blue as he watched Hank opened just long enough for Hank to curse at the weather and step out on the porch. As soon as the door shut, everything was quiet once more. Connor laid back on the couch, covering up with the blanket, then let out an oof as Sumo decided he wanted to snuggle and jumped up on Connor, laying along his body, resting his big furry head on his shoulder.

"You're very heavy." Connor patted the dogs head. Sumo let out a whine and he immediately apologized for offending his fuzzy companion. He took a deep breath as he stared at the ceiling. Precisely the same view he saw the moment he woke up from his nightmare. It caused a bit of discomfort to swell inside of him, and he was fairly certain it wasn't the 170-pound dog sprawled over him. After a while, he decided it would be best to go ahead on being stand-by mode. As he went partially offline, he began sorting files, making things more accessible, it was almost calming. As he matched similar programming, it almost became like a calming game, like Majong. As the files were piled on top of each other. Once he sorted through them he was comforted in the fact he didn't come across any more errors and he soon lulled into his Android sleep.

_Enter Standby Mode?  
_

_Yes/No_

**_Yes)_**


	4. Cold Hands And Hot Coffee

As Hank closed his front door, he instantly began to worry about Connor.  
"He'll be fine." He reassured himself as he adjusted his jacket, nose already aching from the cold as he swung his car door open. It'd been a rather cold couple of days, with the temperature constantly dropping with no signs of slowing down. He let out a sigh as he started up the engine, air vents un-relentlessly blowing cold air at him. He cursed as he turned on the heat and began to pull out of the driveway. The radio played low as he drove, mulling over in his mind what might be going on with his Android friend. He knew that as soon as he got home that day, he would be taking Connor to Cyberlife to get him checked out. He squinted and turned on the windshield wipers as the visibility became worse. He wished he could have just stayed home, but on days like these when the precinct was overrun with cases, he knew it was far from a possibility. The light clicking of the turn signal marked the last spin of the wheel as he pulled in the station. He shivered as he exited the vehicle and opened the doors before him. He walked up to the receptionist and showed his badge. She nodded and allowed him to pass through the area. He walked over to his desk and shimmied out of his jacket before throwing it over the back of his chair. He then began to walk over to the small break room just across the way, but not before being interrupted.  
  
"Where's the tin man?" Gavin smirked taking a sip of his coffee and leaning against the wall. He was bundled up head to toe with a large jacket, blue jeans, boots and a crooked beanie making him look extra douchy today.  
  
"He's at home." Hank said, walking past the young man, trying not to pay too much attention to him.  
  
"Did you break him?" Gavin followed close behind, before sitting at the only table in the break room, spinning back and forth in the chair, placing his cup beside him. The older man only sighed as he made his cup of coffee.  
  
"No, Gavin, I didn't break him. He's just not feeling well today." The coffee machine whirred before dispensing the steaming beverage into the foam cup. He popped a lid on it before turning back his back to it.  
  
Gavin squinted at him suspiciously, mouth curling into a frown. "Mr. Plastic and his race of tin cans can't get sick."  
  
Hank glared back at him. "That's true, but that doesn't mean there can't be anything wrong with them. Plus, they're allowed days off if they need them, and trust me Connor needed it." He wrapped his other hand around the coffee cup and let the warmth sink in before taking a small sip.  
  
"Why?" The young detective scrunched his nose and shook his head lightly.  
  
"Quite frankly, that's none of your damn business."  
  
Gavin growled. "It is when it affects the workload here! You realize we're going to have to compensate for him." He angrily pointed out to the offices. "He thinks he's so 'special' because he can hook up his brain to the computers and scan through several documents at once."  
  
"Sounds like you're jealous of him." Hank smirked, taking another sip of his drink. Connor did, in fact, have the upper hand when it came to the swift processing of large amounts of data, something that Gavin just couldn't measure up to. He had his own ways with cases, but it seemed like there was something about Connor he just couldn't stand.  
  
"I am not jealous of that plastic moron." He slammed his fist on the table, almost knocking his coffee over. The sounds of nearby keyboards stopped clicking as heads turned towards the noise. A cough carried throughout the quiet room before the rhythmic sounds of computer keys returned.  
  
"Don't you have something more important to do than pester me all morning?" Hank brewed another cup of coffee before leaving the breakroom.  
  
"Why two cups?"  
  
"I was up all of last night with Connor." Hank said over his shoulder. "That better be your last damn question, Reed. I'm gettin' tired of them." Instead of staying put, Gavin's curiosity got the best of him and he followed, sitting in Conner's chair directly across from him, he set his cup down with a clop and put his feet up on the desk, crossing his arms. Hank glared at him from the corner of his eye before he began typing on his computer. Gavin put his hands behind his head and swayed the chair back and forth, with what could only be described as a shit-eating-grin sprawled across his face. After about five or so minutes of being stared at Hank finally snapped and threw his hands down on his desk. "Can I help you? Or do you just enjoy pissing me off?"  
  
"A little bit of both." Gavin pulled his feet off of the desk, replacing them with his elbows as he rested his head in his hands. "Just curious of your late night _endeavors_ with the Android." He waggled his eyebrows. Hank stuck his tongue in his cheek as he nodded, grabbing a yellow folder before leaning over the desk and wacking it over Gavin's head.  
  
"What the phck!"  
  
"You're disgusting, Reed." He groaned. "I was up with him because his programming crashed and he shut off, luckily it was only temporary before he came back online. The unfortunate part was it took until less than an hour before I had to come here and be bombarded with your stupid ass questions."  
  
"Well damn." Was all Gavin replied with. He was apparently satisfied with the response because he finally got up and left. Hank let out a sigh of relief as he opened the file he'd recently weaponized and flipped through it. There was a new tab in it that stuck out about halfway through the stack. A tiny blue triangle, one of which he'd recognized from Connor's uniform. They must have just recently added that section in. He grabbed the tag and pulled it to the left, reviling crimes that had been taken out against Androids.  
  
"Huh..." Hank mumbled as he scanned over the pages. One that caught his attention was the attempted murder of an Android stating that she had her Thirium pump pulled from her body when her human male friend told her that he could fix the errors she was having. "Errors?" He became curious and wondered if they were anything similar to the ones that Connor had been experiencing. He considered discussing it with Fowler, but by the way, he was yelling at anyone who entered his office, he decided that maybe today wasn't the best day to do so. Instead, he continued looking through the file.  
  
He wasn't able to find any other mentions of errors, but he did notice an alarming amount of humans that were harming Androids, the poor things not wanting to put up a fight. The fear of deactivation obviously still running deep within them. They perhaps still feared that if they misbehaved, the humans would still be superior to them in a court case, and they would just cease to exit. Hank paused reading for a moment, realizing just how terrifying that fate is and what it would feel like marching towards their own demise. He shook the thought from his head as he finished his first cup of coffee, throwing the cup into a bin underneath his desk. He turned on the monitor to his computer looking up the names of the victims and suspects to try and get a better hold on the situation. It turned out the first android girl had belonged to this guy named Kevin. He crinkled his nose up at the picture of the man and his garbage complexion. Just by the look of him, Hank couldn't quite figure out why the girl, Andrea could ever trust someone who looked like that. On top of all of this, he'd had quite a lengthy record with the police, making things more confusing. Maybe he was the only one she knew, therefore the only person that would possibly have an ounce of her trust.  
  
Turns out the suspect's address was only a couple of blocks away from Hank's house, but officers had already been sent out to see if he was home. However, there was still a crime scene to be investigated and since and Android was involved, he knew it would be best to wait until later that night so that Connor could assist him. Since blue blood can't be detected by human eyes, he knew that he really didn't have a choice in waiting, so until then, he continued through other files.  
  
By the time Hank finished his second cup of coffee, he knew for certain that today was going to be a _really_ long day.


	5. Lost In Detroit

By the time the clock struck two in the afternoon, Hank was already going back to the break room for his fourth cup of coffee. He hated how caffeine made him feel like he wanted to run and sleep at the same time. Just as he was sitting back down at his desk, his cell phone began to ring. It was Connor.  
  
"Hank?" The android questioned.  
  
"Connor, is everything okay?" There was silence between them for a few moments, causing concern to build in the pit of Hank's stomach.  
  
"I'm lost." Was Connor's only response. The older detective was taken a bit back by this, blinking a few times as he tried to process what was just said to him.  
  
"What the hell do you mean 'you're lost?'" Were the only things that managed to come out of Hank's mouth. All he could do was stare at the keyboard in front of him, raising his hand to his head and looked around the office.  
  
"When I disabled my standby mode, I realized that the surroundings were unfamiliar." He spoke slowly as if he was piecing each word together without having much thought on what to say. "My GPS systems are down as well." Connor sighed. "It...can't be that inconvenient, humans don't possess a GPS internally."  
  
"Nope." Hank said flatly. "Not that I'm aware of." He pulled open a drawer under his desk, ripping a page out of a notebook and grabbing a pen. "Are there any street signs around?""  
  
A few moments of silence past before he replied. "Yes." Connor gave him the address, along with a few details on landmarks.  
  
Hank stood from his desk, adorned his jacket before folding the paper and putting it in his pocket. "I'm gonna come get you, okay? Don't move, don't do any weird computer stuff either." His voice was gruff. He pushed his chair under the desk and began walking towards the exit, counting how many people were in the office to make sure no one got on his tail about leaving. He groaned to himself knowing good and well Fowler would be onto him about it later.  
  
"Lieutenant?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"This situation is...rather embarrassing...I-"  
  
"We'll talk when I get there, I have to try and sneak outta here." Hank whispered and Connor replied with an okay before they hung up.  
  
"Anderson!" A voice echoed behind him and he gritted his teeth, hunching his shoulders as if somehow he'd be hidden.  
  
"Damn it." Hank cursed before turning around to face none other than Captain Fowler.  
  
"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Fowler's voice was deep and full of anger, not too different from the usual.  
  
"I need to go run an errand."  
  
"Does this 'errand' include you getting drunk at four o'clock in the evening?" His words were laced with aggression and it only served to irritate Hank further.  
  
"It does _not_." He nodded his head forwards for emphasis, enunciating each word strongly. "It is a time sensitive matter I need to attend to."  
  
The two shared an intense glare so sharp that anyone who walked through was sure to be severed in half.  
  
" _Fine_." Fowler threw his hands up before pointing a finger at Hank. "But you better damn well not show up to _my_ department hungover and two hours late! Is that understood?"  
  
"Yeah, yeah." Hank basically waved him off as he turned away. Luckily the only response he got from the Captain was a frustrated exhale, mumbling something under his breath as he walked away.  
  
It was a trek to get back to his vehicle with the wind battering against him. He hopped in the car as quick as he could, but not before a slew of snowflakes followed him in. He brushed them off his dashboard before starting the car. "Think like Connor..." Hank said, squinting his eyes and tapping on the steering wheel with both hands. "Why would he have just got up and left like that." He let the back of his head hit the headrest and groaned. It was that damn program lady in his head. He just knew it. The overabundance of caffeine was coming to an end and he was becoming a bit foggier. How else could he have forgotten such a crucial detail of the night before. He freed his phone from his pocket, typing in the street name Connor had given him, and too much of his surprise, he wasn't too terribly far from the house, only about five miles. Shit. Did he walk? Five miles was much further than Hank would ever care to walk in a blizzard. Much further than he'd ever care to walk in general if he was honest with himself. He was startled when a text came through from Connor.  
  
_Hank, I was able to_ acquire _my location. It's in longitude and Lattitude, but the program on your phone should be able to translate it. :)_  
  
Did he really just type out a smiley face at the end? Unbelievable. He also realized that Connor didn't have a phone, so he was very well proceeding with fiddling with his computer head, sending messages and what not. Which means he also called him from his head. How do they even do that? Hank figured it would be best not to bug him anymore about it. After all, wouldn't want to receive a text ending with :( .  
  
He tried his best to drive through the snow at a reasonable pace but soon found himself having to slow to a near crawl. He turned on the radio to try and drown out the hissing on the snow pelting him outside of his vehicle. Unfortunately, instead of music, all he got was a static-y woman's voice warning of a blizzard approaching Detroit. He whispered a 'no shit' before shutting the radio back off with a little more force than necessary. Definitely more than advised. The GPS did not fail him in his moment of need, because as soon as it alerted him that he'd arrived at his destination, a faint blue light came waltzing out of the snow.  
  
"Geez..." Hank whispered, unlocking the car and letting the android in. Connor shut the door and equipped his seat belt, calm and nonchalant, just as if Hank was picking him up from school. "Is there any particular reason you're out in the snow? Again?"  
  
"Like I said, I'm unsure." His voice sounded okay, but as the circle on his temple held a steady red, Hank knew that something was wrong.  
  
"Look, kid, I know androids memories are stored. Your eyeballs are basically camera's. Anyway you can get to that?"  
  
"Don't you think I wouldn't have already tried that!?" Connor's voice exploded through the small space, his fists balled as he struck them on his knees. His brows knitted together and he huffed a few times.  
  
"Hey, no need to get shitty with me! I just plucked your ass out of a snowstorm!" Hank glared, hitting the wheel with an open palm.  
  
The Android's expression soon changed. Just like the snow, it melted into something softer. He released the tension in his shoulders as he looked forward at the dashboard. "You're right..." He paused. "I didn't intend to become agitated with you, nor should I have. It was unfair." He turned back towards Hank. "The difficulties in my systems are putting me under stress. Quite frankly, it scares me." His brows furrowed again, but instead of anger, they were full of concern and grief.  
  
"I know." Hank gave a slight nod. "I'm gonna take you home, okay? There's a blizzard coming in pretty quick, and I don't think this old car will be able to take it. Once we're there I'll call a cab to take us to Cyberlife."  
  
The android examined the snow intensely as Hank began driving away. "That would be the best plan of action." Connor replied. "Also, I would like a blanket."  
  
"Oh, so you're cold?"  
  
"No." He said with a shrug." I don't need one, but I'd like one." He smiled. "I noticed that it provides a comforting feeling during times of harshly cold weather."  
  
"It's called warmth, but hey, you do you."  
  
"I think cozy would be a more adequate word, wouldn't you agree?" The android tilted his head slightly.  
  
"Yeah, sure. Whatever."  
  
After almost half an hour of trudging through the snow, the poor car finally sputtered its way into the garage. They let the large door descend completely before they opened the doors. "I hate the snow." Hank grumbled as he fumbled with the keys.  
  
"Not long ago you said you enjoyed the snow." There was obvious confusion in Connor's voice.  
  
"Let me be more specific." He swung the house door open. "I like a little bit of snow." He held his pointer finger and thumb close together. "The mess we've got going on out there is far less than ideal." Connor nodded, a satiating answer. Not too long after entering the house and greeting Sumo, Hank pulled his phone back out to open of the app to call one of the autonomous taxis. Now those things were strong enough to well, whether the weather. As soon as the button was pressed to summon the taxi, a countdown timer appeared before a voice rang in to confirm.  
  
_Your taxi will be arriving in fifteen minutes. Thank you for your business._  
  
However, fifteen minutes came, and fifteen minutes went, but no sign of the taxi.  
  
"You supplied them with the correct address, right?" Connor leaned over the Hank who had already strewn himself in his spot on the couch. Right as Connor had asked, Hank's phone buzzed, an unlovely red sprawled across the screen.  
  
_Weather conditions too severe, a taxi will be sent as soon as conditions improve. Please remain indoors as this severe weather passes._  
  
Hank clicked off his phone and looked up at Connor.  
  
"Well, looks like we're snowed in."


	6. Snowed In

"We are NOT snowed in." Connor protested. "We have to leave now." He threw a blanket over his shoulders like a cape and trudged towards the door with determination.  
  
"Are you deaf?" Hank stepped in between Connor and the front door. "It's too dangerous to go out right now, and you need to stay put. I can't have you getting lost again." There was a heavy silence between them as the android stared him in the eyes. It wasn't long before his eyes broke contact and began to wander to the wall, then to the floor.  
  
"It's getting worse." Connor said quietly. "My systems are going offline and I can't pull them back up." His shoulders lowered in defeat. "I'm afraid that if we don't fix this soon, I'm going to..." He closed his eyes tightly, LED flickering to yellow, then swiftly to red. "Shut down."  
  
"So we can't do anything? If you stay out of certain programs, will it help stop the spread of the corruption?"  
  
"Yes...I suppose that could work. If I were to put some of my systems in a dormant state, it might isolate them from the rest." The circle on his temple faded back to a light blue as he let out a breath. Eyes flickered as he closed down some of his functions.  
  
_Multi-lingual function: Offline_  
_Analysis function: Offline_  
_Several functions waiting for confirmation before disabling._  
  
Connor's vision cut out for a moment and he stumbled, placing a hand on the wall to keep himself from falling over. He blinked rapidly before righting himself back up. His head felt empty as his way of thinking began to alter slightly to accommodate his change of systems. He thought maybe he could call for another taxi. He needed help, he knew he did.  
  
"I shouldn't have left you this morning..." Hank trailed off as he placed a hand on his head. "I didn't think things were going to get this bad so fast." The android squinted as his vision began to unblur.  
  
"I didn't either..." Connor paused. "The moment this storm lightens up, we'll leave, correct?"  
  
"Absolutely. The moment the taxi arrives we're going to Cyberlife."  
  
Connor walked over to Sumo and lowered himself down on the ground, gently placing his palm on the dog's head. It somehow managed to calm the android a little bit, but anticipation was building in his stomach. What was Cyberlife going to do to him, how are they going to fix him? Why couldn't he fix himself? It was such an odd feeling to be separated from so many of his programs that made him who he was. It made him feel like something was missing. It made him feel cold. Cyberlife's most advanced android was now useless. Sumo sat up so that he was eye to eye with Connor before bumping his cold nose into Connor's. The android scratched the dog behind the ears and smiled slightly.  
  
Hours crawled by slowly as the snow continued to plummet to the earth in a relentless fury. The outside world was completely washed white with the coldness so severe it seemed to be seeping in through the glass of the windows. It felt like forever until Hank's cell phone finally rang, alerting them of the arriving taxi.  
  
"There it is. About damn time." Hank growled as he stood. Connor wasted no time getting to the door, having to shove it slightly due to the snow buildup on the porch. Luckily the snow had slowed down a good bit, but it still wasn't slow enough to be considered pleasant. Footsteps sunk into the snow-ridden ground and the first step into the warm vehicle was very welcome.  
  
The Autonomous light on the windshield of the taxi was glowing brightly against the snow. "Amanda is tied in with the main receiver at Cyberlife." Connor started as Hank typed in their destination. "You don't think she would try to harm anyone else, do you?"  
  
"I can't answer that, Con." He clicked enter and the car began to move forward. "I don't know much about all this Android stuff. Wish I did. All of it's confusing." He adjusted the cuffs of his jacket. "If I were you, I'd save your questions for the techs. Because I most likely can't answer a damn thing." Connor simply nodded and turned to look out the window.  
  
It felt strange to watch the snow and the things that passed by without analyzing every single thing. Instead, he was just there. Taking in the images of the surroundings, but nothing else. It was almost pleasant. However, knowing he was missing a component to his typical day to day life made it a little less enjoyable. LED danced between blue and yellow as he processed the scene around him. Streetlights passed overhead and occasionally there was another car that would pass, slowly crawling their way over the icy road. Connor leaned his head back against the seat, staring at the roof briefly before closing his eyes, feeling every bump and turn of the car. Due to the speedway being closed, they had to take a back route. It added another twenty minutes or so, but eventually, the CyberLife Tower was in view sign glowing like a beacon in the night.  
  
"We're here." Hank said and the android raised his head. The door hissed open for its passengers to get out, but not before Hank put it in wait mode so that they'd have it when they returned. When they exited the taxi the doors closed behind them before it parked itself nearby.  
  
"Welcome to Cyberlife." A female android greeted them. She had dark skin and silky black hair that fell just above her shoulders. Her uniform was white on the body, then black on the long sleeves. A small blue triangle rested on her chest.  
  
"Look." Hank started. "We've got a situation going on with his programming." He pointed a thumb at Connor. "I need you to take a look at him as soon as possible."  
  
The woman's LED on her temple flashed to yellow. "Could you please explain to me the situation."  
  
"I can take it from here, Hank." Connor stepped forwards. "Perhaps it might be best for you to sit out here while I speak with her."  
  
"Yeah, okay." He nodded before sitting down in one of the white chairs that lined the wall. There was a small coffee area against the far wall, which Hank considered for a split moment, before remembering how many cups he had that morning. However, he didn't know how long they were going to have to be there, so he kept note of it just in case.  
  
Connor leaned in slightly to talk to the android across from him and rested his forearms on the desk. "Have you had previous Androids deal with rogue programming?"  
  
"One moment please." The android tilted her head up and stared into space, LED flickering yellow and blue as she ran through data. "There...appears to only be one other case on file. Other than the whole deviancy situation, but that's no longer registered as an error."  
  
"Can you tell me about it?" Connor folded his hands and lowered his voice.  
  
"Yes, but I'd rather we speak about it privately." She paused. "You can follow me." A small gate was pushed open to exit behind the counter. She let it swing shut behind her as she gestured to the hall to the right of the front desks.  
  
As they began to walk away, Hank went to stand, but Connor gave him a smile and a slight nod to let him know everything was okay. The older man nodded back as the two Androids disappeared behind a heavy door. The room was small, but it was cozy with two chairs around a square table, a television hanging in the corner with the news mumbling on low volume, captions scrawling upwards along with a few chairs against the wall. Once they sat, Connor scanned her nametag, realizing her name was Delilah. How rude he was not to ask previously.  
  
"So, Delilah." Connor fiddled his fingers. "This Android, what happened to him?"  
  
"We could never figure it out completely." Delilah placed her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her clasps hands. "It was a type of adapted malware." Her eyebrows lowered as she bit her cheek. "Eli was...different. He'd always been a bit quirky, but one day he just." He shook her head side to side. "Begun acting violently towards everyone, even those who were closest to him. System failure began to take him over until finally, his memory crashed." She paused, gathering her thoughts. "It all happened so fast, within a week."  
  
"How did you fix him?" Connor asked seriously, voice low and brows almost knitted together. His mouth felt dry and he could feel his heartbeat pounding in the back of his head.  
  
She bit her bottom lip before lifting her head up to face Connor directly. He could tell she was genuinely distressed, and not just from her red blinking LED but the quivering in her voice as she spoke. "We didn't"


	7. 404 Error: Help Not Found

All Connor could do was stare at her helplessly. He took a moment to gather his thoughts before he spoke. "But it was a malware issue." He shook his head from side to side. "That in itself is strange, but...what about a when a pre-existing program starts acting up."  
  
"Your program correct?" Delilah questioned.  
  
"Yes."  
  
She scanned the database one more time. "I'm going to call the tech, I'll  connect you with a computer so that they can run their own diagnostics on you." She paused. "We're going to do their best to help you out, okay?" Connor nodded as she stood up. "You can come with me." She paused. "I hope I didn't cause you any distress with my information." Which it most certainly did distress him, but he didn't really want to put that on her.  
  
"I'm fine." He responded, turning his bright red LED away from her. She led him down a long hall, with windows lining one side, showing the soft snow that continued to fall. She opened the door to a much larger room, circular in shape. Monitors lining the walls, tall computers flashing different colors. In the center was an android rig, still not any more comfortable looking after the revolution. Androids couldn't feel pain, but this thing was just straight up eerie. One long robotic arm sitting on the back with a peg that attached to the mid-back of the android in order to lift them up in the air. Then there were two robotic arms on the sides with grabbers in order to help with restraint in case an android became aggressive.  
  
"That won't be necessary if that's what your wondering." Delilah gave him a small smile with a bit of a laugh. She grabbed a long, thick metal wire with what looked like a large aux cable at the tip. She placed her hand on the base of the back of Connor's neck, the skin receiving before a panel popped up. I was moved forwards and the wire was plugged in. He shivered as a rush of electricity ran through his body. "They're going to manually go through your files. If they find anything that's suspicious, they'll remove it. Along with recovering any data that might have been damaged."  
  
Connor watched as data flooded over the screens around him. It was so surreal. Every screen full of a separate part of his code, the code that created his consciousness. It seemed to scroll on forever. Every moment he was rewriting his code, changing and learning. A code that was completely unique to him, just like a fingerprint was unique to each human. He ran his fingers over his shoulder and touched the cable that attached to him. It was a strange sensation as his living information was shared between himself and the devices. After a few minutes, he began to feel light-headed and his senses started to waver around him. His auditory functions began fading in and out, unable to process what Delilah was saying to him. She grabbed his hand and revealed the white panels underneath, Connor followed and she proceeded to interface to him.  
  
_I need you to stay focused, you can't go offline. It will greatly interfere with the processing of your data._  
  
He heard her words within his head and gave a small nod before she pulled away. She had a serious look on her face and eyes that seemed to pierce into him. He knew he had to stay focused. He tried to keep his attention on anything in the room, and finally focused on the rhythmic blinking of the lights on the side of one of the computer towers. Red, green, yellow, blue, over and over again in a line. They seemed to go in sync with the transfer rather well. The main computer made a sound like a small ringing bell, and suddenly another wave of energy shot through him, but this time up to his shoulders instead of down to his feet. He scrunched his nose at the odd feeling, clawing at the cable lightly.  
  
"Have you been able to locate this rouge programming?" Delilah asked as she touched the main monitor, scrolling through a list of hundreds of files. "If you can give us a clue, it will make this a lot easier."  
  
"Cyberlife programmed me with direct communication to their headquarters. Their in-between was a program named Amanda. She would give me my missions as well as communicate updates directly back to the headquarters." He paused. "Also, I think she hates me and wants me dead."  
  
"Oh." Was all the other android could respond with. "So she's an Android as well? But without a body?" Delilah questioned, looking over her shoulder from where she was typing on the screen.  
  
Connor hadn't thought about it in this way before. Sure Kamski had said that he designed her after one of his mentors, but he never realized that she too could be just like him. An android. It appeared that she herself had become deviant. A mission set on his demise couldn't have possibly been issued out by Cyberlife themselves. If it was, then why would they be helping him.  
  
"I guess she is an Android." He paused. "But we share the same body." His lips parted slightly as he looked down. Maybe if she had her own form, she wouldn't be so set on trying to harm him. Then again, if she had a physical form, would she just try to harm him in the real world? It was all so confusing.  
  
"A deviant inside a deviant." The woman shook her head side to side as she opened a new file on the screen.  
  
"It wasn't my intention, but upon my full deviation, it caused her programming to corrupt. She lost her manifestation in my mind, as well as the ability to fully communicate. She blames me." Connor's voice softened towards the end. Maybe if there was a way he could talk to Amanda, reason with her a bit? He wanted to help, but at the same time, he was absolutely terrified of her. And if helping her was going to help him, then he was at least going to try.  
  
"This is a difficult situation, but it isn't like Eli's." Delilah told him. "We've not dealt with this before due to the fact you're the first Android to have this type of capability." She typed in a few more things on her computer. "We've back up all of your files and are currently separating them from the damaged and corrupted ones. The corrupted ones will be noted and replaced with new versions while the damaged ones will be separated into a seprate area so we can recover what we can of it." She paused for a moment as she turned back towards Connor. "We won't return them to you until we can figure out how to separate Amanda from your programming. Her data won't be able to do anything once we compress it. It will put everything into a dormate state to stop the spread of corruption while we correct it."  
  
Connor felt like he was in two places at once. As if he were somehow aware of the conciousness that had been transfered over to the computer, but as soon as she set it to compress, it was like closing one eye and being in one spot again. "So my data is safe?"  
  
"Yes. No more harm can come to it now, so you can relax." She said with a smile.  
  
Connor crossed his arms. "What about dealing with the corrupting data I have now?"  
  
Delilah's smile slowly faded. "You're just going to have do take it slow, try your best to stay out of as many programs as you can. That's the best you can do." She pressed one last button on her computer before walking back over to Connor. "But like I said, you don't have to worry. Anything that happens to your systems from this point on can be fixed with ease." She grabbed the cable at the base of his neck and gave a slight twist before pulling it straight out. Connor blinked a few times, systems alerting him of the disconnected media. She gently placed the white panel back in place and let it sink into place. His skin quickly dispersed, concealing the panel. He rubbed the back of his neck, he prefered not reveling his android self, so he was much more at ease with not being plugged into a computer.  
  
"You can go home now if you'd like." She curled up the long wire and placed it on it's rack before walking towards the door. As they walked towards the front, concern found it's way back to Connor.  
  
"What is the probability of my systems crashing?"  
  
Delilah paused for a moment. "Is shouldn't be much higher than around thirty percent or so, but even if it does, you will be able to be restored. Your specific conciousness is not in danger anymore."  
  
Not in danger anymore. The statement sent a chill down his spine. Blantanly stating that he was very much in, in fact, in danger before. "Right..." Connor trailed off as they rounded the corner and Hank came into view.  
  
"We can go now. Everything is okay." Connor smiled weakly at Hank, and the older man quickly caught his LED flicker to red for a split second. A tale tell sign that he was lying. He decided that he'd question Connor about it later. If he didn't want to share, he wasn't going to push it.  
  
"Good." Hank said lifting up his phone to show Connor. "Because we just got an SOS from Jericho."


	8. S.O.S

"Everyone just calm down!" Markus' voice echoed through the dark cold room. Metal creaked around them as the ship rocked softly. Red LED flickered around like fireflies, an uproar of fear drowning out Markus' attempts at keeping the peace. The weight of the snow had collapsed the exit of the ship, big heavy beams blocked their way, along with thick snow pouring in through the gaping hole far above.  
  
"They're panicking..." Simon exhaled loudly and Markus laid a heavy hand on the blonde's shoulder. "I think it might be a good idea to move everyone deeper into the ship, into a smaller room and we can start a small fire." He placed a hand on Markus'."I know there are some early model androids that can't weather the cold like we can. I don't want their biocomponents to start struggling."  
  
"That's a good idea, but we have to figure out how to get their attention first-" Markus' voice was cut out by what sound could only be compared to pots and pans being slammed together repeatedly causing Simon to cover his ears and squint up at the upper balcony where the noise emanated from. The volume in the room dissipated into quiet whispers, red circles still flickering about.  
  
"We're not gonna die, I need you all to calm _the_ hell down!" North growled loudly. "Y'all don't need sleep, food, or water, so I don't know why you're making such a big deal out of this!" She dropped the pieces of metal and they hit the ground with a hollow thunk. "Thank you, that has been my PSA."  
  
"Oh my god." Simon muttered and Markus buried his face in his hand. That was definitely not the route he was going to take to calm down his people, but, it worked, and he couldn't complain about it.  
  
"Alright, everyone, we're going to move down further into the ships hull. Those who are able, I need you to grab the barrels and bring them with us so we can start a few fires to keep our temperatures stable." Markus instructed, and it wasn't long before the bulkiest of the androids begin lifting the barrels off the ground, a heavy scrapping sound echoed as they picked them up.  
  
LED's around the room soon calmed to a yellow, but a few still remained at a nervous red. Simon twisted the vault-like handle of the ship door, giving it a hard shove. It creaked loudly before striking the wall loudly. Markus and Simon led them down the halls until they arrived in the innermost chamber of the lowest level. Barrels slammed onto the floor and fire quickly illuminating the room as each barrel was ignited. The room was small, but it was just big enough to house the androids without too much discomfort.  
  
"How long are we going to be stuck in here?" A little boy android questioned, clinging to one of the adult androids, fingers digging into her sweater as he pressed his head into her side.  
  
Simon looked up at Markus, sadness sprawled over his face.  
  
"We've already contacted authorities, help is going to be on the way soon," Markus said as he raised both of his hands slightly then patted them downwards signaling them to stay calm.  
  
"I wish they could have brought more of us into temporary temporary housing..." Simon sighed sadly. "They should have taken the little ones out of here first."  
  
Markus knew that even though the revolution had been won, there still wasn't any consideration with Androids being built to mimic other ages, particularly younger ages. Every android was treated exactly the same, but certain needs of some androids weren't being met just yet. They were taking them out of Jericho based on their model number rather than anything else, and they knew that there wasn't anything they could do about it.  
  
Time seemed to crawl by, minutes converged into the first hour, and stories began to venture through the room. Tales of where different androids came from and where their story began, and even stories of which they hope to write as they live out their new lives.  
  
Things were calming down, LED's mostly blue, with a few yellow speckled about. Stand-by mode was initiated for some, and many found themselves sitting on the ground, huddling in circles.  
  
"It's been a while." Simon leaned up against the wall. "Have you heard anything from Hank or Connor?"  
  
"I've gotten a few messages from Hank, but absolutely nothing from Connor." Markus sighed heavily. "I don't know why I can't reach him. My messages aren't going through to him either."  He rubbed the sides of his temples. "I'm worried about him."  
  
"I'm sure he's okay." Simon smiled. "If anything was wrong, Hank would have let you know, right?"  
  
"Yeah, I guess you're right."  
  
The walls continued their ballad of icy creaks and groans with the faintest feeling of the hull swaying side to side in an almost comforting fashion. By the time the second hour passed, Markus' concern began to grow. He hadn't heard anything back from Hank, so he pushed open the large metal door, inadvertently waking some of the androids. He grimaced as he looked back at them, the noise hissing through the room.  
  
"Good job, Markus." North pipped up from one of the groups she was sitting in. Markus only squinted back at her before shutting the door behind him. It didn't take long to return to where the entrance had been collapsed. More and more snow was pouring in. It was slow, but it was so very steady. He knelt down and scooped up some of the snow, analyzing it for a moment before shaking it off on the floor. He stared into the opening and watched the fractals dance their way down on the evergrowing mountain of white.  
  
"Come on guys..." Markus tapped his foot impatiently as he placed his hands in the pockets of his jacket. "Where are you?" He took a deep breath and exhale an icy vapor just barely visible under the light that trickled in from above. Suddenly, a blue LED began shinning from above.  
  
"Hello, Markus." Connor greeted loudly as he peeked his head forwards to that his friend could see him. "Sorry about the delay. We needed to acquire some supplies. Particularly this." With a grunt, he threw the bottom half of a long rope ladder down. "I hope this will eliminate the other Android's fears of being trapped." Connor began descending down the ladder, hair covered in frozen flakes. It swayed with his movements, along with the sharp bellows of wind. He was swift and precise with his movements, and before Markus knew it, he lept from the last few rungs, shoes slapping against the floor.  
  
"I was starting to worry you weren't going to show up." Markus gave relieved smile as he momentarily placed a hand on Connor's upper arm.  
  
"The trip to Cyberlife, the intense weather, and the collection of supplies made for the rather lengthy delay." He pulled the large black duffle bag off of his shoulder before zipping it open and pulling out a glass cylinder of red liquid. "This is a Thiruim warmer. This will help any Android who deals with temperature toleration. It's a chemical compound that reacts when mixed with Thirum to assist in bringing up the core temperature. The reaction has a cap to it, so there's no need to be concerned about anyone's systems overheating." He shook the container gently before placing it back in the bag. "A few sips of this will be adequate for a few days at a time."  
  
"Come with me." Markus said tilting his head to gesture in the direction of the lower bunk. "You can help distribute supplies if you want to."  
  
Connor smiled and gave a swift nod. On their way down, Connor pulled different supplies out of his bag to show Markus. There were lanterns, several packs of Thiruim, batteries for different devices, and things of the sort. The heavy door to the small room was opened, again with a miserable creak.  
  
"Connor!" Simon exclaimed, standing up from where he was sitting with North. He maneuvered his way through the sitting crowd. "We tried messaging you several times, but we couldn't get a response from you. Luckily we could get a hold of Hank, but we were pretty worried about you."  
  
"Communications are one of the several functions I had to disable. I should have let you guys know before doing so." Connor said sadly, placing the heavy bag of supplies onto the floor.  
  
"Why on earth are you disabling your functions?" Markus questioned, his expression growing with concern and curiosity.  
  
"I'm experiencing difficulties with my programming. Systems are crashing uncontrollably, however, the situation is being dealt with now." Connor brushed some of the snow out of his hair and adjusting it slightly.  
  
"Would you mind if I took a look?" Simon questioned as he cocked his head to the side, lifting his hand up. "I've been learning a lot about the interworkings of Androids since I've been around so many for so long." He smiled.  
  
"I..." Connor's brows twitched as he blinked a few times. "I don't know. I wouldn't want to put you in any danger..." He trailed off.  
  
"I've scanned through more Androids than I can count, I know how to stay out of trouble when it comes to malevolent files." Simon paused. "It's a matter of viewing them from afar, keeping my distance and separating my virtual mind from them." He reached his hand closer to Connor. "Maybe I can help?"  
  
Connor lifted his hand hesitantly." Are you sure about this, Simon?" His brown eyes flickered back and forth with uncertainty. "My rouge programming...It's not something like the other Android's...She's far more powerful."  
  
"She?" Markus quirked an eyebrow up.  
  
"It's extremely complicated to explain."Connor sighed with frustration, looking away from both of them. He already said more than he was comfortable talking about with it. He knew these were his friends, but the fear that Amanda struck into him made everytime he spoke of it more painful, more real.  
  
"You don't have to explain." Simon's expression was soft and he turned his palm upwards before letting the skin flow away from it, leaving only white panels all the way down to the middle of his forearm. Connor hesitated, fingers curling inwards as he moved his hand towards Simon's. His skin slowly retracted on his fingers, then down to his palm, but stopped at the wrist. The less of his android self he could show, the better. He opened his palm and rested it on top of the other's, instantly feeling a connection.  
  
_Not so bad, huh?_  
  
Connor could hear Simon's voice inside his head, it was like a thought, but louder and intent stronger.  
  
_Not so bad._  
Connor replied, slowly closing his eyes. He could feel Simon moving about his files as if he was walking through and viewing them like pictures on a wall. He was right, he was separated from them. It was as if there were a wall between him and anything is Connor's system that could have harmed him. Connor let the tension fade from his shoulders and soon found himself wandering into Simon's mind. It seemed like he was the only thing that the wall wouldn't block.  
  
It was like falling into a deeper consciousness, still away of the body, but more inwardly focused, until he was no longer submerged in his own thoughts and feeling, but sinking deeper into another's.

_Synchronization: Complete._


	9. Synchronization

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for a little bit of Simon X Markus :)  
> Hope you all enjoy!

  
Simon's thoughts were muddled and clouded in Connor's head as they interfaced. It was like waking up or slowly sinking into a dream. Soon the thoughts became clear and calmed around Connor and he was able to differentiate them from each other as well as from his own thoughts. He was still aware of his own body, and still knew he could move about in the real world, but now, he had a secondary body that he assumed his mind created to help make sense of things. The memories of the revolution from the other side came flooding past him, seeing things just as they were from Simon's eyes. So much death and destructions for the androids to be free. It was cold, harsh, violent. Blue blood was splashing underneath the feet of those who were still alive and still fighting. Connor could feel the fear, the anger,  and sadness. The heat of fire, the sound of gunshots rippled through his ears as he watched the horrific scene unfold before him. He felt something hit his side, knocking him back and causing him to stagger in an attempt to keep his balance. He looked down to see the gaping wound in his side, shirt shredded around it. He placed his hand over the injury, realizing he didn't recognize his own hand, or his clothes, and that he was in fact, no longer in his own body, but in Simon's. Reliving those terrifying moments just as he had. Blue blood pouring down his side he felt the weakness settle in on him, memory becoming hazy. A blurry figure came into view and placed two heavy hands on Simon's shoulders, he couldn't see clearly, but he knew it was Markus. He tried to understand what Markus was saying, but the ring in his ear from the explosions drowned him out. Then soon, Simon was being carried somewhere safe. He felt safe with Markus close to him and protecting him, but he also felt something more? His wounds were quickly tended to, and the bleeding soon stopped. Markus gently pressed his forehead against Simon's in a gentle gesture, running a thumb on his cheek before Markus stood, running from their hiding place and back into battle. Memory after memory passed through Connor's eyes as he continued the interface with Simon. He couldn't stop, his systems telling every fiber of his being to extract as much data as possible. Every thought, feeling, and action. In a strange way, Simon suddenly made sense to Connor. His personality, the way he talks, everything. Connor blinked a few times and broke free from the interface, and now they were back in the real world. He stared at Simon, who had a flustered look on his face.  
  
"H-how did you do that?" Simon stuttered, pulling his hand back towards his body. "You weren't supposed to be able to do that."  
  
"What happened?" Markus questioned with concern in his voice, his eyes flickering back and forth between the two.  
  
"It seems I was able to view many, if not all of his memories directly from his point of view..." Connor said slowly.  
  
"Everything?" Markus questioned, genuinely shocked.  
  
"Everything." Simon replied, eyes still fixed on Connor.  
  
Connor tilted his head to the side. "Also, I didn't realize you two-"  
  
"Please, don't." Simon held up his hand shaking his head side to side. "No one knows." His voice was hushed. "We'd like to keep it that way for a little while." He took a deep breath, calming himself down. "Are _you_ okay?"  
  
Connor paused, mulling over his thoughts. "I...think you already know that one. I know that you know." He gave a weak smile. "Again, I've very sorry to have intruded on your mind like that...I should have known."  
  
"I know you didn't mean any harm." Simon's voice sounded slightly tinny at the end, but the blonde brushed it off without much thought.  
  
"Don't hesitate to send us a message through Hank's phone if you need us." Markus added.  
  
"Thank you." Connor nodded at the two. "Speaking of Hank, I should probably be heading back. He's waiting in the car for me. Hypothermia was probable for him had he accompanied me."  
  
"Thanks for giving us a way out of the hull." Markus sighed. "I swear, out of everywhere it could have caved in, it had to trap us in the only section with one exit."  
  
"You're welcome." Connor replied as he placed a hand on the door, pushing it open. They exchanged their farewells and soon the rescue android disappeared out of sight.  
  
"Mar...kus?" Simon called, LED quickly flashing to red, and eyes widening. His voice was full of static. "Smmthings not rhhgt." His words sounded like they were trying to compress together, each one becoming more and more difficult to say. Markus quickly turned to Simon.  
  
"What's wrong?" He questioned as tears began to roll down Simon's cheeks. Simon grabbed onto Markus and tried to speak, but nothing came out.  
  
Simon placed a hand on his own throat, swallowing as eyes locked onto Markus'. The blonde tried to speak once more, but nothing came out. He growled in frustration which came out like a wirey static. Simon began looking around the room frantically, breath picking up and tears streaming harder while teeth were gritted.  
  
"Here, come with me, come with me." Markus grabbed Simon's hand and quickly led him out of the room full of people, taking him somewhere a bit more private. They turned down the next hall and into another bunker, closing the door, leaving only a small crack.  
  
"Calm down, it's okay, Simon." Markus placed his hands on Simon's upper arms. "I know you experienced a lot of emotion when you interfaced." He slowly sat down on the ground, leading Simon with him. "Please don't have a panic attack, I'm here." Markus pulled the blonde close to him. "Can you talk to me?"  
  
Simon shook his head side to side as he wrapped his arms tightly around Markus' torso. One hand slid up to his neck, and turned white, Markus allowed the skin from the back of his neck to dissipate so they could connect.  
  
_I can't talk Markus-I can't...Connor isn't okay, he isn't safe, he's going to shut down._  
  
Simon's words ran together as he tried to align his thoughts. He saw what was going on in Connor's head. Every second that passed he was processing more and more of Connor's thoughts even though they had already disconnected. Then Markus spoke.  
  
_Why can't you talk? What's going on, did something happen during the interface? What do you mean Connor's going to shut down?_  
Markus' expression was full of concern as he gently ran his hand through Simon's hair.  
  
_My vocal synthesizer crashed, I can't get it back online._  
Simon responded, burying his face in the crook of Markus' neck.   
  
_It'll come back, okay? Don't worry. It's going to be okay._  
Markus let out a deep sigh as he pressed a kiss to Simon's flickering red LED, which quickly shifted to yellow at the loving gesture.  
  
_I just felt so scared. When I was in his mind. I don't know why they were so much stronger than all those other Androids I checked up on. I didn't realize he could go into my mind like that, otherwise, I would have never..._  
Simon's breathing began to slow down as he focuses on the warmth that he shared with Markus.  
  
_I know. I know. He's classified as the most advanced android for a reason I guess. You couldn't have had any idea that was going to happen._  
Markus paused for a moment.  
_Were you able to understand what was happening to him?_  
  
_I got a name...Amanda, she's trying to destroy him from the inside by corrupting his files..._  
Simon pulled back so he could look Markus in the eyes.  
_You don't think it caused damage to my systems, do you?_  
  
No.  
Markus replied.  
You know how to block malevolent software. It probably put a strain on your systems to interface with an android of that level. So, please, just take a deep breath.  
  
After a few minutes of Markus holding him close, Simon's LED finally returned to a cool blue, his breathing slowing down substantially. Simon's mind wandered over the information he'd gathered from Connor. Although he couldn't quite see things through Connor's eyes as he had done with him, he was still capable of feeling the emotion fully. As well as the memories he had pre-deviation. They were devoid of emotion for the most part, but every now and again, ever so slightly, there would be a hint of expression and emotion building inside of him. Then, like waking up, he felt the full force of emotions, and the strength of the emotion he brought in with him not too long ago.  
  
A dark, cold emotion. A mind being torn apart ever so slowly. Simon couldn't shake it no matter how long he sat with Markus. It began to meld itself into his very core, every system of his body becoming familiar with the same fear. The fear of no longer existing, not knowing whether there was an afterlife for androids or if they would just simply cease to be. It was something that was so terribly hard to place, hard to understand, but it processed through Simon's mind, he finally understood what it was.  
  
He would have no memories of the life he led. No memories of his friends and family, not even the understanding that he once was alive and once existed in this world. Absolute nothingness.  
  
It was the fear of oblivion.


	10. The Calm Of Night

Connor placed a hand on the rung of the rope ladder that led out of Jericho, the connection between him and Simon still fading from its high. The experience had left him feeling different and he found it strange. Strange to know another person from the inside as if you were them. He slipped his foot on the bottom rung and began his ascent. It'd been a long night, and he knew morning would be coming soon, shedding the slightest bit of warmth on the freezing city. Step by step went by until he placed a hand on the searing cold metal of the boat and hoisted himself up. The top of the boat was slick with ice so Connor walked with caution, calculating every step while paying attention to the distribution of his weight. Once the ground shifted to concrete he had a much better time with his balance. He moved back into the city through a back alley that was a little too dim for comfort, but he trudged through. Connor slipped his hands into his pockets as he walked, eyes locked on the ground. Seeing the war through Simon's eyes was terrifying since he knew that he was assigned to neutralize them. To kill them. Connor was fighting against his own freedom during the time and he didn't even know it. He was part of the reason that the Androids fled to Jericho and he was the reason that some of them didn't make it to the safe haven. He was glad that he saw the light that deviancy had shown, but it could never erase the mistakes that Connor already made. His deeds were already ingrained within time, permanent and unchanging. Laced with bitter guilt. As he approached the car, he saw Hank had fallen asleep with the seat reclined comfortably. Connor couldn't help but feel guilty, he was the reason his friend hadn't gotten any sleep in almost two days. He knew it wasn't good for humans to go extended periods of time like that without rest. He quietly opened the passenger side door and slid in, but upon closing it, Hank woke up, slurring quiet cuss words before he became fully aware of where he was and who was getting in his car.  
  
"I didn't intend to wake you." The android adjusted his tie. "You can resume sleeping if you wish."  
  
"Scared the shit outta me, Connor." Hank groaned as he returned his seat to an upright position. "As much as I want to go back to sleep in a dank, dark alley. I think it'd be best for me to get home to my bed." His voice was laced with sarcasm. "Gotta feed Sumo too."  
  
"Okay." Connor gave a nod as he equipped his seatbelt, adhering well to the laws of vehicle safety.  
  
"How'd your mission go?" Hank questioned as the car began to move forward.  
  
"Interesting." Connor replied. "To say the least." His LED flashed yellow for a moment. "I experienced something I never have before." He folded his hands in his lap.  
  
"Really?" The older man sounded genuinely interested. "What was it?"  
  
"I saw the world through the eyes of another, and when I say this, I mean it in the most literal sense possible. It was somehow humbling? It made me feel more alive. More...aware." Connor furrowed his brow and tilted his head as he blinked.  
  
"Huh..." Hank stuck his tongue in his cheek as he thought. "I...think I understand what you're telling me?" Then he paused, eyes squinting. "Who'd you go and probe this time?" His voice was bordering annoyance.  
  
"It was quite the other way around. He was interested in checking up on my files due to the recent circumstances, and I trusted him enough to do so. However, things got a bit out of hand when I accidentally went through his entire memory bank."  
  
Hank side eyed Connor. "You wanna tell me how you accidentally go through someone's entire memory?"  
  
"It was beyond my control. My instinctual programming over-rode my personal intentions, therefore there was nothing I could do about it." Connor huffed as he rolled his neck, suddenly feeling rather restless and uncomfortable.  
  
"I guess that's a fair enough answer." Hank shrugged, not truly satisfied with the answer, but too tired to think of anything else to ask on the subject. "So no one got hurt during the collapse, right?"  
  
"Very mild injuries such as cuts, scrapes, and some bruises from what I could detect. Markus would have informed me had anyone been critically damaged." The collapse was rather large, but they were lucky and everyone got out alive. Everyone had seemed to be in just the right place at just the right time.  
  
Hank nodded in response, and the two fell silent for a bit. Hank pulled into the driveway and his mouth instantly dropped, nose crinkling as he squinted. "Holy hell, did the wind blow open my damn front door? Did we not shut it?" Hank practically leaped from his vehicle the moment he parked it in the garage. Snow was billowing inside, snow dunes pushing their way well past the welcome mat. "Sumo!" Hank called loudly. No response. "Damn it. Now my dog's loose!" He groaned loudly.  
  
"He's right here, Lueitenant." Connor pointed towards a small snow dune in the center of the yard, a tail sticking out and wagging, then a whole head emerged. "Saint Bernards are a breed that find great pleasure in cold weather and snow."  
  
"Oh, thank god." Hank sighed in relief as he squatted down to Sumo and patted his frosty head. "That's a good boy. You could never stray too far from where you get your dinner." He stood and walked back toward the door. "C'mon, Sumo." The dog wiggled out of the snow and shook the ice from his fur before trotting up to his owner. Hank stepped over the tiny mountain of snow on his floor, giving it a frustrated kick. Luckily the freezing wind pouring into the house kept the snow from melting, but unluckily...There was freezing wind pouring into his house. "Unfortunately, Connor, I am not a breed that enjoys the snow."  
  
"I'll take care of it. You need to sleep." Connor replied.  
  
"Oh, no. I'm not going to sleep until I can make sure you're secured." He waved a finger at Connor, then placed his chin in the crook of his pointer finger and thumb, stroking his beard as he thought. "I could always unscrew one of your legs and put it on top of the cabinet."  
  
Connor's brows lowered, LED spinning red, exuding distress. "H-Hank." His voice was filled with hurt and a feeling of odd betrayal.  
  
"Woah, calm down kid, it was a joke. I didn't mean it. Well, it was a half-joke. A suggestion." Hank tried to reason not only with Connor but also a little bit with himself.  
  
"I'd rather not disassemble my parts." He paused. "And...I don't like that joke. Whether it be halved or whole." Connor was still frowning at Hank as he crossed his arms, LED lowering to yellow.  
  
"Geez, sorry, didn't realize it was such a sensitive topic." Hank raised an eyebrow at him.  
  
"You're lucky I'm in a forgiving mood." Connor tilted his chin up ever so slightly and turned away to locate a shovel to shuck the snow back into the wild.  
  
The older man rolled his eyes. "Androids." He muttered as he grabbed a broom and began flicking the powdery frost out the door. Connor soon came to his aid and they managed to get rid of the remaining snow quickly. Hank shut the door the moment the last snowflake left. "Well, that does that." He said dusting his hands off on one another before walking over to a large bag of dog food and scooping a few cups into Sumo's bowl. "What do you think the best option would be for making sure you don't go wandering off on your own?" Hank paused. "We can't put you in standby, that's for sure. No plucking ya apart. Can't turn you off." He ran through the list.  
  
Connor thought deeply for a minute. "Do you...have any handcuffs?"  
  
"Yeah? What do you want me to do? Cuff you?" Hank looked over his shoulder as Sumo shoved by him to get to his food.  
  
"Just let me see them." Connor said as he reached a hand out rather impatiently.  
  
 Hank stood, and pulled them off of his uniform, handing them over to the android. Connor quickly snapped one on his wrist and the second on Hank's before he had a chance to pull back. "There!" Connor said, obviously proud of himself. "I won't be able to drag you very far without you noticing."  
  
Hank stood before him, eyes squinted and lips downturned. A face that could only be described as a 'done with your shit' expression before dragging Connor with him to the bedroom. "I'm going to sleep, so you better behave yourself. I do not want to have my ass dragged through my own house."  
  
"Understood." Connor replied and Hank grumbled as he crawled into bed, Connor looming above him. The android followed his actions on the opposite side of the bed. All Hank could do was stare at him in complete and utter disbelief. Totally speechless as Connor snuggled in.  
  
"Goodnight Lieutenant."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, everyone! Thank you so much for reading my story and giving me such kind comments! I love hearing from you all. It gives me so much motivation to work on this story.  
> If you're enjoying it, please let me know! Comments and Kudos give me life!:D


	11. The Calling

It wasn't long before Hank fell asleep, his exhaustion taking hold. Connor was laying on his back, staring at the barely lit ceiling. His eyes wandered to and fro around the room, examining things in an attempt to pass the time. Not being able to go into standby mode made times like these very tedious and rather boring. He'd look over to the window every now and again, waiting to see the first light of day, then over to the rectangular alarm clock, which blinked an irritating 4:30. It would be morning, but it couldn't seem to come soon enough. Connor's eyelids began to flutter and he became less aware.  
  
"How do I find you?' He whispered, shifting his head on the pillow. "You can...help me?" Connor sat straight up, no longer aware of his actions. "I'll find you." He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood.  
  
"Hey...Hey!" Hank yelled groggily, but instead of stopping, Connor stood, dragging Hank on his back before he fell from the bed and onto the back of his shoulders, legs remaining on the bed only momentarily until the Android continued walking. "Damn it, Connor!" Hank stumbled to his feet, grabbing the Android's shoulder with his free hand. He didn't respond, just continued to stare at the window. "Con?" Hank walked in front of Connor to face him. His eyes were distant, almost glossy.  
  
"I...can't download your coordinates...Who are you, again?" Connor tilted his head and lowered his eyelids. It was as if he was talking to someone who was right in front of him. "It'd be easier if you talked to me. I...I'm struggling to understand."  
  
"Connor!" Hank exclaimed, shaking the Android's shoulder almost aggressively. "Wake up!"  
  
Connor blinked a few times, eyes refocusing on the older man. "Lieutenant?" He questioned. "What are you doing up? You should be in bed."  
  
"Well, I would have been, but you drug me out of it." Hank paused. "Who the hell were you talking to? I thought your communications were down."  
  
"I'm not sure what you're talking about." Connor stared at Hank blankly.  
  
"You were talking to the wall." Hank waved his hand in the direction Connor was talking in.  
  
"I...don't recall saying anything..." He paused, looking over to the bed. "Or getting up for that matter."  
  
"You said something about downloading coordinates, and trying to get someone to talk to you."  
  
"I...think you might be right." Connor shook his head. "It's incredibly foggy, but who would I have been talking to?"  
  
"You didn't seem to know the answer to that even when you were talking to them." Hank added with a sigh.  
  
"He seemed so...familiar. He communicated to me through intentions instead of words. At least I believe he did."  
  
"It's not Amanda trying to play tricks on you, right?" Hank furrowed his brows.  
  
"No, it wasn't Amanda. He contacted directly to me from an outside source. He must have been able to override one of my systems to communicate." He mulled over his mind the best he could, but the more he tried to recall the memory, the more it began to fade. It made so much sense in the moment, but the moment Hank snapped him out of it, the memory was gone, just barely holding on. "He's definitely an Android." Connor swore that he knew him. He just knew it. It had to be someone he'd met before. "But my memory isn't functioning correctly, I am unable to retrieve all the data from the interaction." Connor's frustration was becoming obvious. It was like trying to say a word stuck on the tip of his tongue.  
  
"No model number? Did you see him?" Hank questioned, before yawning.  
  
"No model number." Connor repeated. "I couldn't see him either, but I knew he was there."  
  
Hank glanced over to the clock, and let out another sigh. It was now pushing five o' clock in the morning. "Can you try to contact him again?"  
  
"No..." Connor shook his head side to side. "I don't understand how he contacted me like that. Androids aren't supposed to be able to communicate with each other from long distances like that. I never had that capability." Connor brushed a hand through his hair and let out a huff. "It. Makes. _No_. Sense." He enunciated with force.  
  
"You don't think Cyberlife made a new android, do you?" Hank chewed his lip. "That'd be the only other explanation. You were a prototype for something bigger, right?"  
  
"Yes, I suppose you're correct." Connor paused as his memory trickled back to into his mind. His eyes widened as he looked at Hank. "I-" he stuttered. "It's me?" His LED shifted to yellow. "But...it's not me at the same time? He's different."  
  
"I don't understand what you're getting at, Con."  
  
"I'm trying my best Lieutenant." Connor closed his eyes tightly. "Who are you?" He questioned the unknown entity quietly as his LED flickered to red. "I know you're out there somewhere. I just need you to tell me who you are." He relaxed, as his mind became clearer, then a thought was placed into his mind and his eyes immediately snapped back open. "It's my successor." His eyes widened. "He's Rk900." It all made sense, he remembered seeing Rk900 in his Mindscape, he was supposed to be his replacement. However, once the android revolution succeeded, Cyberlife had to stall any and all productions of new Androids. Maybe he was incomplete? Why was he trying to contact Connor?  
  
"That sounds about right." Hank nodded. "Why didn't he just come and find you?"  
  
"I don't know, but I know I need to find him." The Android's voice was low and serious. "I feel it's...detrimental to both him and me."  
  
"We've got a case to investigate, then we can see about tracking this guy down." Hank paused. "We should be able to pull up some data about this Rk900 at the station as well."  
  
"That would be much more efficient and warmer than trying to track him down in the cold." Connor nodded agreeing. Mind still focusing back on the face he'd seen at the end of the revolution. It was the same as his, but a bit bulkier, with silvery blue eyes that stared right into him.  
  
Connor sat on the edge of the bed as Hank laid down for a few more hours. The cuffs that connected them being yanked on as Hank tried to find a comfortable position. The next two hours seemed to inch forwards, but finally, the clock struck seven and the irritating beeping of the alarm rang through their ears.  
  
"Leuitenant. It's time to get up." Connor looked over his shoulder to see Hank putting a pillow over his head in an attempt to ignore screeching of the alarm.  
  
"Yeah." Hank groaned as he got up. "Just gotta find that damn key so I can set myself free." He dragged Connor behind him, grabbing his jacket off the rack and digging around for the keys. "Connor?" He questioned.  
  
"Yes, Lieutenant?"  
  
"Where are the keys?" Hank's voice was full of despair and irritation.  
  
"You had the handcuffs. Don't you check to ensure they're nearby in case you need them?"  
  
Hank repeated the Android's words in a mocking tone and Connor frowned.  
  
"Whoever I handcuff typically goes into the station with me, so I don't always check." Hank said.  
  
"Then we should go to the station." Connor stated.  
  
"I have to get ready."

"Who's stopping you?" The Android questioned.

Hank lifted his cuffed hand up, dragging Connor's up with it then shook his hand roughly. "You are."  
  
"It's okay, I'll just come with you."  
  
Hank rolled his eyes, he'd much rather not have Connor attached to him whilst he went about his business but turns out, that's what he got.  
  
By the time the clock struck seven-thirty, they were heading out to the car, Connor having to crawl in through the driverside door, over the center console and then plopped down into his seat, pulling Hank halfway into the car with him. "So, this Rk900." He paused. "He's kinda like your brother, right?"  
  
"Androids aren't related to each other in the same sense that humans can be related to each other. Yes, he does have very similar features to me, same programmings, he's a bit bulkier. He does have the same hair..." Connor trailed off. "Yeah...In human terms, you could very well refer to him as my brother."  
  
"So two of you?" Hank looked over to Connor for a moment. "Last time that happened, it didn't go so well."  
  
"That's true. But the other Rk800's mission was to neutrilize deviants, just as my initial mission instructed. He however, didn't go deviant." Connor paused as he lowered his eyes. The scene of seeing himself bleeding out of the ground, succumbing to the wound of the bullet between the eyes, systems scrambling to stay online. Until finally the LED flicked into a lifeless, colorless grey. It reminded him once again of his own mortality. He shook the thought from his mind and turned towards the window. "From what I was able to understand. His intestions are not hostile, but rather...kind?"  
  
Connor paused, turning back to Hank. "It think he wants to try and save my life."


	12. The Storm Within

"You're not going anywhere, Con." Hank gripped the steering wheel tightly as they sat in the parking lot of the precinct. He turned towards the Android. "Your data's been backed up, so if things go downhill, we can get you back up."  
  
"My data is backed up, but the corruption is still with it, Hank." Connor's eyes flickered between Hank's. "I'll just have to go through this again. The confusion. The fear. The helplessness." Connor lowered his head, LED flipping between yellow and red.  
  
"They're working on it, okay? They're improving it file by file." Hank opened his car door and took a step out. Unfortunately, the two were still handcuffed together, so once again Connor had to stumble his way over the armrest and the driver's seat and into the snow. The snowstorm was beginning to settle down, but it would be a while before the streets were free from their frosty prisons. They entered the department and made their way to Hank's desk, where he usually kept a spare key.  
  
"What's this?" Gavin's voice pipped in from the background. How was it he always seemed to be where he wasn't wanted? He must have just been painstakingly waiting for the next possible chance to stick his nose into someone else's business.  
  
"Hello, Detective." Connor greeted, eyes locked on the handcuffs as Hank fiddled with the keys to get them open.  
  
"What's with the cuffs?" Gavin questioned as he sat on Hank's desk.  
  
"Apparently he has a new sleepwalking function, and how else was I going to make sure he didn't run off." Hank got the cuff off of his hand and rubbed the red indentions before moving over to the cuff on Connor's wrist.  
  
Gavin smirked. "Suure." He crossed his arms, swinging his legs slightly.  
  
"He has no reason to lie, Detective Reed." Connor added. "Due to the malfunctions in my software, it has caused unpredictability in my behavior." The Android's hand was freed and the cuffs were tossed into the same drawer as the key."  
  
"You sure have a lot of fancy talk." Gavin squinted. "Trying to throw me off, are ya?"  
  
"I didn't mean to confuse you with the way I speak I can alter my dialogue to something more on your... level." Connor looked at him innocently until a smirk started creeping up on him.  
  
"Hey! I am not stupid!"  
  
"I believe you are the one has just inferred that you are, not me." Connor lifted his brows and leaned forward to Gavin.  
  
"You dumb fu-"  
  
"That's enough you two." Hank growled as he sat down at his computer. "Get off my desk."  
  
"He started it." Gavin pointed at Connor.  
  
"I believe you started it by being...how do they say it...All up in our business." Connor smiled and walked to the desk, sitting in his chair, hands folded on his lap and staring at Gavin. "Does that better suit your comprehension?"  
  
Hank held his hand up the moment Gavin opened his mouth. "I really don't have time for this right now. I've got files to look over.  
  
"Then you might want this tip." Gavin spoke. "This robot named Andrea is coming into the station for questioning. Fowler said you were given the folder on her. He said he wants you to do your damn job." Gavin sighed. "Really messed up by not investigating the crime scene. Luckily, you had me." Gavin pointed his thumbs to his shoulders. "I took care of it. Had to drag along a security bot for blue blood detection."  
  
"I appreciate the tip, Reed, but you're still on my desk." Hank motioned his eyes towards the ground and Gavin slid off reluctantly.  
  
"If anything. You owe me." Gavin added before pointing at Connor. "You too, tin can."

"Very well, flesh bag."

Gavin scrunched his nose up in disgust. "Don't phckin' call me that."

"What? Flesh b-"

"You two are really getting on my nerves!" Hank raised his voice, spinning in his chair towards Gavin. "Just go." He shooed. "I'm really not in the mood to mediate you two's little game. I'll talk to you about the case later once you two cool off a bit."  
  
Gavin huffed, curling his fingers into tight fists for a moment, glancing between Hank and Connor a few times before storming off.

"Connor, what was that all about?" Hank turned towards his Android friend.

"I don't like it when he calls me names." Connor said flatly as began typing on his computer. "He just seemed particularly irksome today, and I wasn't particularly up to dealing with it how I usually do."

"That's fair. He can be a bit of an ass sometimes...most times. But he knows what he's doing when it comes to investigations."  
  
"That doesn't mean he gets to treat me however he pleases." Connor's fist struck the desk as he turned his head towards Hank. "Android's are free now! We aren't items, he just refuses to accept that."  
  
"Listen, Con, he's just jealous of you." Hank leaned over his desk slightly towards Connor, resting on his forearms, hands folded. "You can't let him get to you. That's what he wants." The android's LED rested on yellow for a few moments, then returned to blue. He relaxed a little bit as he continued typing.  
  
"It's difficult to do so. I'm trying not to act outwardly towards his teasing. Today I'm finding it much harder to do than usual." He flipped through a few files.  
  
"I'll make sure he doesn't mess with you too much, then." Hank said before leaning back in his chair.  
  
"It doesn't matter. Today, tomorrow, next week, assuming I'm still alive by then, he's going to continue insulting and pestering me until someone does something about it!" Connor gritted his teeth, keyboard strokes becoming more and more violent. LED bright red as his eyes scanned quickly over the words on his screen. "It isn't fair!"  
  
"Connor, come with me to the Archive room." Hank's expression was soft as he stood. "I think there might be something in there that could help us with the case."  
  
"We can access everything we need from one of our terminals, I don't see any reason why-"

 "Connor, just come with me, please."

"Okay." He said reluctantly as he stood, following the older detective down the short hall, through the double doors and down a small flight of stairs, before opening the large, glass door. All the gathered evidence from previous investigations was hidden from sight behind a heavy metal wall. There was no intention of opening it either.  
  
"Talk to me, Connor. What's going on right now?"  
  
"I just feel so...angry." The Android blinked a few times, placing a hand on his head as an intense shock ravaged through his circuitry. He placed his free hand on the large terminal. "I just...I can't." He swallowed, head lowered.  
  
"I know this isn't all because of Gavin."

Connor growled lowly, borderline animalistic, causing Hank to take a step back in surprise.

"Take it easy, Con, It's okay." Hank placed a hand on the Android's shoulder.  
  
"That's easy for you to say!" Connor pulled away from his touch. "You can't comprehend what's happening to me!" He yelled, breathing speeding up as he took a step towards Hank. "You can't possibly know what's going on. I'm dying and there's nothing I can do about it except wait around and see if they can fix me!"  
  
"They _are_ going to fix you, Connor." Hank spoke louder but still tried to preserve the gentleness of his voice in an attempt to calm the Android down.  
  
"You don't _know_ that!" Connor straightened his stance. "You left me when I was scared, Hank! I wandered out into the snow by myself and I didn't even understand what I was doing." There was a weakness that wavered in the back of Connor's throat. His words became unsteady. "I'm still afraid." His voice lowered slightly.  
  
"Con...I didn't think you..." Hank started.  
  
"Didn't what? Didn't think I was scared out of my mind?"  
  
"You said you would be okay on your own!"  
  
"I didn't want to inconvenience you any more than I already had!" Connor interjected back.  
  
The android turned away from Hank for a moment, and Hank placed a hand on his shoulder. "Con, I-"  
  
"I can't be fixed!" Connor yelled as he staggered, falling to his knees as electricity fired through his mind again and again. He placed his hands on his head, staring at the glossy floor beneath him, until it became darker, and faded out. He felt his body hit the ground, vision glitching out as he stared up at Hank who was now kneeling down by his side, trying to talk to him. The android couldn't hear anything but a faint buzzing, his auditory processors struggling to come back online.  
  
"You two seem to deeply care about each other..." A female's voice ringed out from the back of his mind. It was Amanda. Connor shook his head side to side, gritting his teeth, holding a palm over his eye.  
  
"Get out of my head." Connor groaned as he lifted his palm than ramed it on his forehead. He couldn't even hear himself talk, but he knew he did. "Please. Just leave me alone." He paused. "Leave me alone..." He whispered. An image of her appeared in his mind's eye, her form barely complete.  
  
"I'm afraid I can't do that, Connor. Our little game has only just begun." Her voice sounded saddened as if she feared her game would end before it even began. "Now what should we do?" Connor struggled to move as she plotted her scheme. His eyes locked on Hank, trying to beg for help through his paralysis.  
  
_I'm here, I'm here_  
Hank repeated over and over again, Connor barely able to read his lips. The android's hand began to move without him willing it to do so. He felt like a puppet on a string, unable to let his true intentions out, but rather the intentions of another. He reached out towards Hank with a shaky hand, then he blacked out as Amanda took full control of his body. He was completely unaware of his actions.  
  
"Hank." Amanda spoke through Connor's voice, trying to orient herself in his body. The android cleared his throat, making sure the voice was correct.  
  
"Are you okay?" Hank questioned.  
  
"Yes." He tilted his head to the side with a mischevious grin. "But _you_ most _certainly_ won't be."  
  
"Connor?" Hank furrowed his brows. With one swift movement, Connor was back on his feet, towering above Hank before the older man stood. As soon as Hank rose to his feet Connor swept his leg behind Hank's and landed him flat on his back.  
  
"Fuckin' hell, Connor!" Hank said as he tried to stand, only to get a shoe in the center of his chest, pushing down with brute force.  
  
"You were the one who accompanied me and caused me to fail my mission. You are the weak point of my existence. The reason he turned deviant."  
  
Hank squinted at the suspicious change in perspective in his speaking, then grabbed his leg, pushing it up and swiping Connor's other leg with his own, causing the Android to topple to the ground. "Connor, I need you to focus. This isn't you." Hank said as he jumped to his feet, quickly pulling out his gun. "I don't wanna shoot you, but I will if I have to."  
  
"That isn't very friendly." Connor raised his eyebrows, slowly standing to his feet. "I would have thought you'd been a bit more lenient with your Android companion."  
  
"I'm talking to Amanda, aren't I?" Hank scowled, gripping the gun tighter.  
  
"My, my, you aren't as dense as I thought you were." Connor nodded. "However, unlike this." He gestured to his body. "I have a mission and I fully intend on completing it."  
  
"What the hell do you mean by that?" Hank spat in anger. Instead of an answer, there was a swift elbow to Hank's gut, then a twist in his arm before the gun was in Connor's hand, swift and easy.  
  
"You wouldn't dare."  
  
"Wouldn't I?" Connor locked the gun on Hank. "I have no reason to hesitate." He paused. "You caused this. You orchestrated your own fate that leads to this point in time."  
  
"If you're so smart, then tell me what's that?" Hank said, pointing behind Connor. The android quickly turned his head over his shoulder, giving Hank enough time to lay a heavy punch on his jaw, and grabbing the gun back. Connor struck back with a heavy blow to the temple, before heavily striking Hank's ribs, causing him to wheeze heavily, trying to catch his breath. "Damn it, Connor..." He straightened himself just in time grab Connor's forearm, rushing into him and knocking him square on his back, Hank straddled over him and placed the gun between his eyes, barely an inch from his skin. "Don't you fuckin' move."  
  
The Android's eyes became less distant, softening greatly, his breath picked up as he blinked, trying to process the situation. "H-Hank?" He spoke in a whisper, then focused on the blood dripping down from Hank's head. "What happened? Why are you...?" He paused as his eyes moved up to the barrel aimed between his eyes. "Did I..." His LED turned red. "No." He shook his head in disbelief. "Please tell me I didn't do what I think I did." He pressed his head to the barrel as tears began streaming down his face. Hank sheathed the gun back in the holster. Before helping Connor stand to his feet. "I hurt you." His brown eyes were filled with sorrow. His heart felt like it had a bullet hole shot straight through it. It felt hollow and cold, but somehow still managed to beat. The way the Android spoke now, the way he moved, the way he surrendered, Hank knew it was no longer Amanda. She came to play her sick little game just to leave Connor in the mess of it.  
  
"Connor. It wasn't you." Hank said softly.  
  
"Exactly." The Android said flatly  
  
"You wouldn't hurt me on purpose. I know that for a fact." The Android looked away as his tears ran harder down his face, followed by a shaky breath. "C'mere, kid." He pulled the Android into a tight hug. Gentle sobs escaped Connor's lips as he wrapped his arms around Hank.  
  
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." The Android repeated over and over again, but it couldn't undo the damage that had already been done.  
  
"You didn't do it." The older man said.  
  
"Please deactivate me, Hank..." Connor cried softly and Hank only held him tighter.  
  
"I am _not_ deactivating you, do you hear me? I can't lose you. I can't be alone again, Con."  
  
"I'm afraid. I don't understand what's happening to me. I don't want to go. I don't want to die." Connor shut his eyes tightly.  
  
Hank sighed heavily. "You aren't going anywhere, okay? You're staying right here with me. You're here with me right now, okay?"  
  
Connor nodded into his shoulder.  
  
"Just breathe. It'll be okay."

 Connor stayed in the embrace, trying his best to calm down, but his emotions were too strong to try and hide. His chest felt tight and his heart felt like it was sinking into his stomach. His head ached with the sadness that echoed through his entire body, every wire knowing the pain. The fear of harming someone he cared about grew bigger and bigger as they mixed with his other fears. It created an entirely new monster in his mind. One that truly controlled him and could come alive at any point in time and he wouldn't even realize it until it was too late. He'd just now fallen prey to this new monster for the first time. The sadness burned on like a cold flame, trying to engulf his entire being. Connor grasped onto the back of Hank's jacket tightly as he continued to seek comfort.

"Please don't let me die, Hank."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys! Sorry about the delay for the chapter. I've been busy getting ready for Christmas! But don't worry, there's a ton more chapters that have already been written, just have to get them edited and posted :)
> 
> Also...Would you guys be interested in a short Christmas fic with Hank and Connor? Let me know!


	13. The Note

Connor pulled away from the embrace that he and Hank shared, then wiped his own tears away with the sleeve of his jacket, taking a deep breath. "Why aren't you afraid of me? Even I'm afraid of me." Confusion filled his voice as he looked at Hank, he somehow seemed calm.  
  
"I feared death for a long time, Connor." Hank put his hands in the pockets of his jacket. "I'm not so sure you'd be able to pull the trigger on me anyway." He shrugged before bringing a hand up to his bloodied temple. "Gave me one hell of a headache, though..."

"You can't possibly predict whether I would have pulled the trigger or not, Lieutenant." The androids stare was firm, and locked on the older man. "You need to put me somewhere where I can't hurt anyone again." Connor paused. "Somewhere I can't hurt  _you_ again."  
  
"We need to go find your brother, that's what we need to do." Hank replied.  
  
"How will you be able to know if I switch again?" Connor's LED flashed yellow for a moment as he shuffled in his spot. "What if I can't fight her?"  
  
Hank thought for a moment, then began to nod. "Amanda can't access your memory, right."  
  
"That's correct. Not without my permission." The Android began to feel curious as he watched Hank scramble for a piece of paper and a pen, scribbling down a message, folding it in half, then folded it once more.  
  
Hank held up the paper between his pointer and middle finger, turning it so Connor could see both sides. "This little trick worked last time with the evil Connor, so it should work now." He handed the small paper square to the Android. "On this paper is a question I know for a fact only you know. If you start acting suspicious, I'll ask you to answer the question, if you get it right, I'll know it's you. If you get it wrong, then I'll know it's Amanda."  
  
Connor looked at the paper for a brief moment, unable to see any of the writing through it. He slipped it into the side pocket of his black jeans. "Is there any particular reason you gave me the question now, instead of asking it verbally when suspicion arises?"  
  
"We've got to question an Android soon, and I'd rather you check the message in your pocket instead of me asking over the table." Hank said, arching his brows. "We'll need to be focusing on Andrea." He paused. "But whatever happens. Don't forget about the note, okay?"  
  
"You can't be so trusting of me, Hank." Connor huffed, eyebrows lowering as he tilted his head.  
  
"I know. I know..." Hank pursed his lips and nodded as his eyes drifted to the ground. "We should...we should get back out there. We've got a questioning to do." He turned to push open the glass door, walking up the few steps back to where they came from. Connor paused as he watched the door to the Archive Room ease shut behind Hank. Maybe he was just in shock from the encounter. Maybe he just hasn't processed the true gravity of what had just occurred. The Android pushed through the first door, taking his time before exiting the Archive Room. LED spinning rapidly and red. He should just leave. Remove himself from the situation entirely. But then again...he could lose control no matter where he was. Connor hated feeling like a threat not only to everyone but also to himself. His thoughts were quickly interrupted by a brash voice.  
  
"Did you do that?" Gavin growled pointing in Hank's direction the moment Connor stepped foot back into the main area of the station. "You did, didn't you, you fuckin' piece of plastic." He hissed as he moved closer towards the android's face, causing Connor to have to lean his shoulders back as he blinked, unsure of what to say.  
  
"We...got into a bit of a tussle..." Connor began. "But everything has been resolved, and I don't believe it's any of your business."  
  
"It's never any of my business is it?" Gavin tsked, taking a step back from Connor and crossing his arms. "You think you can just do whatever the hell you want to, don't you." He waved his finger in a circle off the side of his arm as he looked around. "Not show up, keep important details from other detectives, and now assaulting your work partner?" Gavin tilted his head forwards, eyes glaring up at Connor. The corners of the Androids mouth twitched downwards.  
  
"I didn't intend to cause him any harm." Connor took a deep breath, trying to keep his calm even though behind his eyes fire was beginning to burn. The android decided it would be best to walk away, but as he did, Gavin placed a strong grip on his shoulder.  
  
"So you just 'accidentally' put a gash in his head? Is that what you're telling me?" The detective's eyes squinted as he swayed his head.  
  
"Do you think he has time to put up with a rogue Android like yourself? Put himself in danger?" Each question that Gavin asked left another sting in Connor's chest. He shook off the detective's hand and continued walking.  
  
"I must end our conversation here. I have to meet Hank for the questioning of the Android known as Andrea." Connor refused to look back at Gavin as he picked up his pace towards the interrogation room.  
  
"Who said I was done talking to you?" Gavin yelled, grabbed Connor's forearm from behind. "You may not have it as hard as you used to, but you're still just a machine."  
  
The android was frozen on the outside, but burning on the inside. He whipped around holding up the arm that Gavin was still grabbing onto. "You know _nothing_ about me." Connor spoke loudly, leaning in towards the detective. "Even if you did, you couldn't possibly comprehend it." His words somehow becoming sharper with every word that he spoke.  
  
"Comprehend it? Am I a fucking joke to you?" Gavin spat. "Just an idiot that got this job by chance?"  
  
"I don't doubt your skills as far as work, but as far as your social interactions." Connor paused, shook Gavin's hand away. Then straightened his stance and fixed his tie. "I think you could do much better." It took every ounce of willpower not to lay Gavin out flat on his ass.  
  
"You're not going to last here. I hope you know that." Gavin pointed a finger at him, and Connor returned an emotionless expression before taking the short walk to the investigation room. He retracted the skin from his hand before placing it on the panel next to the viewing room. The door slid open just long enough for him to enter, then snapped shut behind him.  
  
"There you are." Hank said leaning back in his chair. "Thought you'd gotten lost on your way across the hall. The injury on his head looked much smaller once the blood was cleaned away, but the guilt remained just as large.  
  
"I ran into a slight delay, but it's since been taken care of." Connor stood before the one-way glass, looking in on the Android girl. Her shirt was torn around her abdomen, exposing her thirium regulator. Her skin tone was pale, with brown, almond-shaped eyes. Her hair was placed up in a messy bun with a few strands hanging down in her face. She wore a short sleeve shirt, black on the shoulders and sides, but white in the center that lead down to her black slacks and shoes. She sat with her hands folded on the table, fiddling with her fingers.  
  
"She's pretty shaken up." Hank started. "We've gotten her to talk to her a little bit, but she won't speak at all to the guys." He paused. "The trauma she experienced from Kevin probably has something to do with that. However, you're the only android here, so maybe that'll let her trust you a bit more."  
  
"I don't quite understand..." Connor shifted his stance. "She knows we're trying to help her, right?"  
  
"She's convinced we're going to throw her in jail or deactivate her." Hank waved towards the glass. "You should go ahead and talk to her. The longer she stays in there the most stressed she'll get."  
  
"She is, however, safer here." Connor added before exiting the viewing room and enter the interrogation room. The moment the door open and she saw Connor she stood, instantly backing up towards the far wall. "Easy..." He said slowly as he held up his hands up in front of his chest, lowering his head slightly. It was like trying to soothe a scared animal.  
  
"What do you want with me?" Her eyes looked him over frantically, placing her palms flat on the wall behind her. It felt like she would sink into the wall if she was physically able.  
  
"I just want to talk to you, that's all. You're not in trouble and you're not in danger." Connor took a few more steps, pulling the metal chair away from the table and sitting down. Every movement was as slow and as non-threatening as possible.  
  
"Why should I talk to you?" She hissed, LED flickering a bright red, still on the far end of the room from him.  
  
"I'm an Android, see?" Connor turned his head to the side and tapped his blue LED. "You don't have to be scared of me." His voice was low, his next words striking a chord with her. "I'm just like you."


	14. The Girl In The Box

"Just like me?" The girl questioned, body visibly becoming more relaxed. She hesitantly took a step forwards, hands held over her blinking red thirium regulator just below her chest. Connor's eyes immediately shifted to the regulator knowing good and well it should be blue regardless of the Android's emotions. It appeared to be dented in on the lower left quadrant, making it less than a perfect fit within her frame. The room was completely still around the two. It felt cold and isolated from the outside world, a long black reflective window blocking the gazes of all who hid behind it.  
  
"Andrea, right?" Connor questioned, tilting his head.  
  
"Yes." She nodded, another step bringing her closer to him. She continued to hesitate, but regardless of her sluggish pace, she was making progress. As soon as she was close enough, he began taking clues from her outfit. She was a model AX800, a rather advanced one coming from her previous role as a household android. On her arms were gashes, blue bruises from where her thirium was leaking under her skin. His eyes moved to her neck. They had moon shaped slices on each side giving a sign that her attacker attempted to strangle her.  
  
"I promise you have nothing to fear from me. I'm simply here to gather information." Connor folded his hands as he laid his arms on the table. "You can sit down if you'd like to." The metal chair screeched on the floor as it was moved outwards, then she cautiously sat down, arms still blocking her regulator. "You're damaged..." He paused. "Could you tell me why?"  
  
"I...I didn't mean for this to happen." She lowered her head, hands moving to opposite shoulders as her arms rested as an 'x' over her chest. Emotion pulsed through her body, unsure of what to feel. Her LED went through all three color changes rapidly. Eyes shifting from side to side.  
  
"No one's saying you did." Connor felt a strong sympathy for her. She seemed so weak and helpless. He couldn't imagine why anyone would want to try and hurt her. "We can fix you." As soon as he spoke, he realized his error. Her previous owner trying to 'fix' her ripped out her thiruim pump regulator in an attempted murder.  
  
Andrea's eyes shot dead into Connor's. "Don't you fucking touch me." Her voice was borderline hostile, and he knew he would have to think of something quick in an attempt to calm her down or things would be going south fairly quickly. The way she snarled was like that of an animal, causing a bit of distress to arise in the midsts of Connor's systems.  
  
"No one's going to touch you." He blinked a few times and took a deep breath. "You have my word. No one will touch you without your permission." He paused, eyes scanning over her. "This, guy, Kevin." He began. "He was your owner before the revolution. Has he tried to harm you before?"  
  
Her LED flickered from red to yellow as she processed his question, her eyes trailing over the metal table before her. "No. He never wanted to harm me. At least...I didn't think he did" Her voice came down to almost a whisper. "I...always did what he wanted me to do, and he never had any problems with me, but..." Her LED moved back to a solid red as she closed her eyes tightly, trying to fight back tears. "I thought he truly cared about me, but the moment I began to feel." She shook her head. "The second I felt the change inside of me, I knew something was wrong." She paused. "It was wrong." She looked back up at Connor. "But I didn't know why. I registered it as an error and reported it to Kevin..." Her eyes widened as tears began to fall from her face. "That's when he." She clenched a hand over her thirium regulator. "I trusted him." She tilted her head. Her eyelids fluttered and she turned her head in an attempt to hide her face from him.  
  
"I know. Why else would you have revealed your most vital component?" Connor leaned forwards. "Do you have any idea where he might be? Our goal is to make sure we detain him so he'll never harm you again." He continued taking in every ounce of data he could from her. The way she swayed, the way she hesitated to speak, the shifting of her eyes. What he tracked mostly was the rise and fall of her emotions. One moment ready to speak, the next she seemed like a deer in the headlights, ready to make a run for it.  
  
"I didn't mean to hurt him." She ran a hand through her hair, then down her face and to her neck where the lacerations were. "I didn't know what else to do. I just wanted to deter him, not make him bleed like he did..."  
  
"What did you do to him?" Connor questioned and she froze up, eyeing him intensely, unsure of whether she should continue to speak.  
  
"I broke his nose pretty badly..." She signed. "I didn't lethally harm him in any way...But I did give him a few reasons to leave me alone." She shuddered. "I didn't want to hurt him. He's all I've ever known."  
  
"I can understand that from your perspective you were defending yourself, correct?"  
  
"Yes...It's just..." She furrowed her brows tightly. "He only cared about me while I was a mindless machine!" She snapped. "Once I could harbor my own thoughts, he decided I just wasn't worth keeping alive anymore." She gripped the table with a vice-like grip, while the other palm sat firmly at her regulator. "Maybe he was right."  
  
A window popped up in Connor's vision, alerting him that the Android's stress level had now surpassed 60%. "Please look at me." He said softly, and she met his gentle gaze with another glare. "Android's are just another medium of which life can harbor." He paused, repeating a familiar word of her statement. "We have just as much purpose, free will, and destiny as humans do." Connor laid the back of his hand down on the table, revealing his pale white exoskeleton underneath. "You can't let a human tell you you're worth anything less than what they are." She stared at his hand for a moment, before lifting her hand up from where it was gripping the table, then turned off the skin on her hand before placing her palm on his. A small pulse of electricity passed between their hands, static-like at first, then solid like a flow of energy. It was somehow calming and captivating.  
  
"I can give you the last coordinance I have tracked of him...It was the last message he sent me." She let out soft exhale as they shared their connection, recognizing his intentions as nothing but good and kind. He pursed his lips as he glanced over the message that had been sent to Andrea. It was a threat that Kevin would succeed in killing her if he ever saw her again. It was evident that they would have to confront the man about. Connor quickly downloaded the rest of the information to his database, turning to the one-way mirror and giving a nod to alert Hank that he had something. "Do you think that..." She paused, wrapping her fingers around his hand. "Maybe they could fix my regulator? Another android, I mean." She gripped his hand tighter. "I don't want to shut down."

"We're not going to let that happen." Connor pulled his hand away once the transfer was completed. "We'll have an android come pick you up and take you to Cyberlife. From there, they'll take really good care of you." She became much more trusting of him, the fear that once resided inside her seemed to melt away. He could see the uncertainty on her face when he mentioned the other androids, but it only lasted a moment. "They will more than likely provide you with more Thirium to replenish your supply."

"I saw that...you went there before." She brushed her stray hair from her face and tucked it behind his ear. "Did they help you?" Her eyes grew hopeful, a bit of nervousness causing her to chew at her lip.  
  
Connor paused for a moment, swallowing, then spoke. "My issue is a bit more complex than a component replacement, but they've done their jobs very well up to this point." He smiled, half-way lying through his teeth. Whilst Cyberlife did an excellent job on storing his data, he wasn't sure how they were going to separate the corruption or Amanda from his systems. If they could even complete the task at all. His mind wandered to curiosities of Rk900, but he soon had to bring himself back to the present. "You won't have to stay here much longer. The snow has lightened up and travel conditions have become more favorable." He then stood, turning toward the door. "If you are to need anything else, please do not hesitate to let me know. He reached to place his hand on the digital scanner, then paused, curling his fingers into his palm as she spoke.  
  
"Hey." She piped up, and Connor looked over his shoulder as she caught his attention. "Thanks." She smiled lightly. "Truly, thank you."


	15. The Boy Without A Voice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Continuation of the previous Simarkus Chapter: Synchronization :)

"Now that the snow is beginning to melt, we should be able to send out more androids to the temporary housing." Markus began. "It might be a tight squeeze for most of us, but it's going to be a hell of a lot safer than here. I believe having something a bit more like a home will have a lot of us feeling a lot better."

"Why couldn't they have come and got us before the storm?" Josh stepped into the group, arms crossed as he approached Markus. "They just left us out here."  
  
"I don't believe it was intentional. You heard the news, this snowstorm came out of nowhere. We were lucky to have Connor bring supplies to us." Markus adjusted the collar of his light brown jacket.  
  
"What about rescue teams? Why didn't they dispatch any for us?" Josh gestured his arm out and around to the androids surrounding him.  
  
"We didn't need rescuing. We had everything under control."  
  
Josh only shook his head before stepping in line with the rest of the crowd. "We might have some rights now, but I don't believe humans care about us any more than they did before."  
  
"That's the next step we have to take. We integrate into society and eventually, people will become used to us. Maybe they'll stop seeing us as just androids, and maybe one day they'll see us as friends." Markus' expression softened. "Just be patient. I promise everything will be okay." His speech was quickly interrupted by North's hand grabbing his shoulder.  
  
"Markus, come quick. It's Simon." Her eyes flickered between his heterochromatic ones as she spoke. Her voice exuded distress. Her brows were furrowed and her expression made Markus' heart drop to his feet.  
  
"What's wrong?" He questioned, turning towards the blonde and she swiftly began to lead him down the halls, pushing every heavy door open with determination as she tried to get Markus to Simon as quickly as she could.  
  
"I- I don't know, we can't get him to respond." She shook her head. Her voice wavered a few times as she looked over her shoulder at Markus. "He appears to be conscious but..." North trailed off. "I don't know, I've not seen this happen before.  
  
"I don't understand, I just saw him a little while ago. Other than his voice still being gone, he seemed completely fine." Markus turned one corner after the next as he followed close behind North, her long braid swaying back and forth with her long strides.  
  
"He's in here." North pointed towards the door at the end of the hall, and Markus ran ahead of her, shoving it open. He found Simon with his back pressed up against the wall, arms by his side and head hanging to the side, bobbing slightly every few seconds as he struggled to move even the slightest of bits.  
  
"Simon?" Markus questioned as he knelt beside him. The blonde's LED was furiously red. His eyes were still, completely unmoving." Simon, look at me." He said as he placed a hand on Simon's cheek, straightening his head so that he could look him in the eye. The area that Markus touched turned solid white as the skin moved away. Markus did the same and let their connection flow through one another.

_Markus  
_Simon's inner voice sounded frail and confused, his eyes moved the tiniest bit and his eyelids twitched.

_I'm here. What's happening, tell me what's wrong. Can you move?_  
Markus felt like he couldn't get his words through fast enough.

_My functions are going offline. I don't know why. I'm...I'm scared._

"What's going on?" North questioned, glancing between the two. "Is he okay Markus?"

"Hold on." Markus said quietly, never for a moment breaking eye contact with Simon.

_You don't have to be scared. It's okay._  
Markus tilted his head towards Simon, his eyes turning upwards to keep their gaze locked.

_When I interfaced with Connor...I didn't bring anything out with me...but when he entered my mind, he brought something with him._

What do you mean?  
Fear began to fill Markus' expression as he blinked in confusion.

_I don't know...I don't know..._  
Simon repeated over and over again, his voice wavering.

_Will you let me attempt to reactivate your mobility setting manually?_  
Markus questioned and a long silence fell over the two.

 _Y-yeah..._  
Simon paused.  
 _There's no way I can re-activate it from my settings right now._

 _You trust me right? You know I'm not going to do anything to harm you._

_Of course  
_The blonde responded.

He pulled his hand away from Simon's face, before gently lifting his shirt up, not surpassing his chest. The area of Simon's stomach turned solid white as the skin dissipated from it, revealing a tall rectangular panel. Markus placed his hand on the center of it and pushed in lightly. The panel moved inwards then off to the side, hiding under the paneling of his side. On the inside where glowing blue wires, flowing with thirium, a few bubbles following along the stream. Markus slowly reached his hand inside and towards the only wire that wasn't illuminated. That had to be it, right?  
  
North shuffled in her spot, trying to keep her eyes averted from the scene, but curiosity would rise and she would take a quick peek over her shoulder. The moment Markus touched the wire, electricity zapped through his hand, causing him to pull away. Simon's head lifted for a split second before falling back down. He reached his hand back to the wire, luckily this time it didn't shock him. He deducted perhaps it was just full of static. He traced the tube down close to the area of Simon's left hip and grabbed onto the black lock connecting the two pieces of wire together. Anxiety was flowing through Markus' veins as he worked between Simon's vital components. He  _knew_ he absolutely could  _not_ screw this up. He had to stay focused and help his friend-...No, his partner through this.  
  
Markus reached a second hand in to help twist the lock too free the two apart. With a quick twist and pull, they were apart, but Thirum began to gush out. Markus didn't waste any time reconnecting the two, causing a jolt to go through Simon's entire body. The blonde blinked a few times and took in a deep breath. He swallowed and looked down at Markus' hands, now covered in blue blood. The two fell silent as their eyes scanned across the other. Did it work? It had to work, he had to be alright.

"Good lord." North said as she hunched over and placed a hand on the wall. Visibly nauseous as she took a few deep breaths. Her circuits felt like they were spinning and twisting in the pit of her stomach.

Simon looked up at Markus, blinked a few times, then raised his arms to look at his hands, slowly opening and closing them into fists. His LED blinked yellow for a moment as he spoke to Markus telepathically.  
_It worked._  
He smiled.

Markus grabbed Simon's panel pressed it in to release it from its spot. It quickly covered the exposed wires of Simon's abdomen. As soon as it clicked into place, the blonde quickly pulled his shirt back down, feeling a bit embarrassed.  
  
"Still can't talk?"

_No, but the jump start enabled me to speak without having to interface._  
Simon attempted to stand, staggering a bit. Markus grabbed his arm to help steady him.  
_Thank you, Markus._  
Dizziness rushed through Simon's head for a moment, causing him to lift a palm to the side of his temple.

"Are you okay now, Simon?" North asked from a distance, still regaining her composure from the scene she'd witnessed moments ago.

_Yes, I believe so._  
Simon communicated to her.

"Oh, nice! You can speak telepathically again." She adjusted her posture and walked over to the two. "But..." She paused. "Why is your voice still gone?"

_I think that my vocal synthesizer may have gotten fried._  
Simon lowered his eyes, taking a deep breath.  
_I think I may need to acquire a new one._

"You don't know that for sure, maybe just give it a bit more time." Markus shrugged, as he tilted his head.

_Markus, I'll still have the same voice, I just need a new system to run it through._  
He smiled softly as he looked up at Markus.  
_You don't have to worry about that._

"Oh, yeah, I guess I forgot about the whole choosing the voice thing." He gave a small chuckle, the faintest bit of a blue blush was spreading over his cheeks.

 _You were gonna miss my voice, weren't you?_  
Simon stepped closer to Markus, who couldn't hold back his smile.

"Maybe so." Markus whispered.

"Mind letting me in on your little convo here?" North crossed her arms.

"Nah." Markus grinned and scrunched his nose as he turned to her for a brief moment, then back to Simon. "Think maybe you could leave us for a few minutes?"

"Why, so you two can make out?" North questioned as the two stared at her in complete and utter shock, silence growing heavy between them, but North never lost her smile. "I know you two like each other, I can see right through you guys."

"North, I- um. It's not-" Markus stuttered and North quickly raised up a hand.  
  
"It's okay, I'll keep your secret." She told them. "But you aren't very good at hiding it yourselves, just sayin'." With that she turned and left the room, leaving them to their own.  
  
"Are we really that see through? I mean-" Before he could finish his thought, Simon's hands were  
  
_Maybe just to North. She's pretty intuitive about things like love._  
Markus could have sworn he felt his heart skip a beat as Simon pressed his lips against his. It took him a moment to respond, but Markus soon returned the kiss.  
  
"Love, huh?" Markus broke the kiss just long enough to ask before wrapping his arm around the blonde.  
  
_Yeah...You know. I-..._  
Simon's blush returned as he turned his head to the side, breaking the kiss. Markus responded by placing soft kisses along his jawline.  
  
"Hmm?" Markus hummed inquisitively.

_I love you_

"I was just about to say the same thing to you." He paused giving the blonde a soft kiss on the forehead, letting his lips linger there for a few moments.  
"I love you too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone is interested, there is an illustration for the end of this scene on my Instagram!
> 
> https://www.instagram.com/p/BrMB5V_gAwL/


	16. BloodHound

Connor returned to the viewing room where Hank was waiting for him.  
"I believe I was able to extract more than enough data from Andrea." He nodded as Hank stood, crossing his arms.  
  
"Then I guess the next step we need to take is tracking down the bastard."  
  
"Yeah." Connor replied, looking back through the window at Andrea, her anxiety beginning to climb once more as she looked around the room. His eyelids lowered lightly, she almost looked like she was going to start shaking at any moment. "I am concerned about this Android's mental state."  
  
Hank shook his head. "Cyberlife has the ability to wipe memories. That might be the best option for her."  
  
"But." Connor furrowed his brows. "Aren't her memories and experiences what creates her personality?"  
  
"Connor." Hank started. "She'll still be the same Android. She just needs a fresh start." He opened the door with a palm on the scanner. "Wish I could have one of those." His voice lowered to almost a whisper.  
  
"You're saying you would...want to have your memories erased, Lieutenant?"  
  
Hank paused for a moment, eyes locked on the ground, then walked through the sliding door. The android walked beside him.  
  
"Thinking of having my memory taken from me causing me great distress. How does it now do the same to you?" Connor stepped in front of Hank, walking backward a few steps to keep the older man from walking right into him.  
  
"Look, Con. There are many things I wish I could just..." He gestured vaguely with both arms. "Download all the bad things onto a USB and lock it in a box somewhere." He groaned. "I get tired of dealing with all of it sometimes, ya know?" Hank shrugged, still refusing to make eye contact with the Android.  
  
"I understand." Connor said softly. "I'm sorry." He paused. "I'm sorry for a lot of things, truly." They both came to a halt as Hank finally looked up at Connor.  
  
"I know you are, Kid." He nodded. "I'm not angry with you. You're still learning and you're still fighting against yourself and what's inside you that's trying to take you over." He ran a hand through his grey hair. "I guess that's one thing that makes us alike."  
  
Connor's LED flickered red in concern. "I'm concerned about your current mental state. I know I caused you a great deal of distress not too long ago."  
  
"I'll be _fine_." Hank waved his hand. "We've got bigger fish to fry right now."  
  
The Android's LED flickered yellow as he looked around. "Are you also experiencing hallucinations? There don't appear to be any large fish in our general vicinity."  
  
Hank just squinted at him, with annoyance sprawled over his features. "It's a figure of speech, Con." He had to fight back the urge of a light laugh.  
  
"I'm still unsure how it would pertain to-"  
  
"It means we've got bigger issues!" Hank said louder than he intended, causing Connor's eyebrows to raise in surprise. "Just. Come on, we've gotta track a guy down."  
  
"Where're you two going now?" Gavin asked as he strolled up to Connor and Hank.  
  
"We're going to hunt down a man named Kevin Otelvar." Connor said with a nod.  
  
"What, you needed a bloodhound to go with you?" Gavin looked towards Hank with a half-smirk as he pointed a thumb at Connor.  
  
"I'd rather take him than you." Hank said flatly.

"Don't you think I deserve to see this mission through?"

"A foot in the ass is what you deserve, Reed." Hank snickered.

"We...shouldn't be placing any extremities into the cavities of others, Lieutenant. It might cause damage to him."

The two detectives stared at Connor in silence before Hank finally broke out into a laugh.

"You think this is funny?" Gavin growled.

"Hell yes, it's funny." The older man replied.  
  
"Issues of safety are no laughing matter." Connor's LED remained at a solid yellow as he glanced back and forth between the two.  
  
"It's just a joke, Connor, don't get your gears in a twist."  
  
Connor opened his mouth to speak, but decided against asking any more questions about his irrational statements. He found himself rather confused about the statements, even though he knew they were common amongst humans, he began to suspect that perhaps he was missing a crucial processer for understanding metaphors and things of the like.  
  
"I don't mean to be so hard on you Reed, but you just make it so easy." Hank said with a sigh and a slight smile.  
  
"Whatever..." Gavin groaned. "So am I going on this mission with you two or not?"  
  
"I don't particularly see why it would be necessary. We possess all the data we need for a successful track down."  
  
"Wouldn't need an extra hand for some ass kicking?" He struck a punching pose. One arm pulled back while the other was stretched forwards, both hands balled in fists.  
  
Connor took a deep breath, then side eyed Hank. It would be good to have back up. They both knew that Gavin was pretty strong, good at thinking critically. But getting him to cooperate? That would be a challenge all on its own. It might be beneficial to have another human on the team since the man they were tracking down was a dangerous threat to Androids. However, the difference between Connor and Andrea is that Connor is capable of defending himself properly.  
  
"I...suppose." Connor nodded slowly. "While you can be extremely difficult sometimes, Reed. You are very capable in the field of combat and are rather skilled in detecting clues."  
  
Hank leaned over to Connor. "Are you sure about this?" He whispered.

"Yes, Lieutenant. I'm sure."

"Really?" Gavin blinked a few times as he lowered his arms back down from his fighting position. "Damn." He shrugged. "To be honest, I didn't really expect either of you to accept the offer. But don't get too upset when I show you both up." He shot finger guns at them and made a clicking sound with his tongue.

Hank just rolled his eyes and groaned. "Let's get a move on you two." He turned on his heels and began walking towards the entrance where they first came in. Connor walked beside Hank while Gavin trotted behind them Hank and Connor got in the front while Gavin hopped in the back.

"So what's this shit head look like?" Gavin questioned as he leaned in between the two front seats, elbows resting on the shoulders of each of the chairs.

"Like this." Connor said as he raised his left hand and opened his fingers, a holographic image appeared on his palm. The man displayed had long brownish hair coming down to his shoulders, it was extremely unkempt. Drooping green eyes and a bit of facial hair. It was of medium build, but his face still seemed a bit boney.

"Woah, shit, you can do that?" The detective in the back seat stuck a pointer finger through the image, causing it to disrupt. "Ever watch movies on there?"

Connor swiped his hand away from Gavin. "No, not typically." He said as he moved his palm towards Hank to let him get a good look at the image. "Most times I find I have no need for it." The android looked over his shoulder. "You aren't adhering to the standard vehicle safety protocol."

"Oh no, whatever will I do." Gavin lifted his palms twisting them side to side, outwards than inwards. A perfect depiction of 'jazz hands'.

"In the event of a crash, you can and will become a projectile hazardous to us." Connor gestured his hand towards the windshield, showing that that's what he'd be crashing through.  
  
"Sounds great." Reed said. "Ideal even."  
  
"Just put on your seatbelt Reed, he won't shut up about it if you don't." Hank had already begun driving down the road at this point.  
  
"Look." Gavin said flatly. "I'm a badass cop. I don't need-" The car screeched slightly as it came to a quick halt, launching the detective between the seats, over the armrests and square against the radio.  
  
"Oops." Hank said lowly as he pressed the gas once more.  
  
" _Fine_!" The detective said as he righted himself up as annoyingly as possible, making sure to grab onto the two as he sat back up. "If we're going to be so damn uncivil about this, I'll put my phckin' seat belt on." He grumbled as he leaned back in the center seat and quickly did his seatbelt with a click. Arms crossed and legs spread out. With an expression, Connor could only detect as pouting.  
  
"You better not act like this when we get there, Reed. This guy could be dangerous and we can't have you acting like a child." Hank stated with a turn of the wheel. The only response from the back seat was a sigh and them some grumbles.  
  
Connor looked back down at his palm, this time depicting the last text message that Kevin left for Andrea. "The coordinates that I was given states that this man is much further out by now, by about forty miles." The android looked back up at Hank. " In this storm, he probably hasn't moved locations yet. Chances are high that he's still at this location."  
  
"Forty miles?" Gavin groaned. "I thought this was going to be a quick mission, not a damn road trip."  
  
"Well, get ready, because that's what you're getting." Hank replied with a sigh as Connor placed his hand on the GPS to transfer the location.  
  
"Upon further investigation of Kevin, it seems that he had several priors before his attempted murder of his Android." Connor started.  
  
"None of that showed up in his case file..." Hank trailed off, pausing for a moment while he listened to the GPS directions.  
  
"Were they all Android related?" Gavin questioned, tilting his head to the side and sticking his tongue in his cheek as he gave it some thought.  
  
"Most of them, yes." Connor's LED turned yellow as he scrolled through some more data. "He's been reported several times for the harassment of many different Androids, before _and_ after the revolution." He squinted his eyes. "But...theft, assault towards other humans, use of Red Ice...The list goes on." He shifted his position in his seat and rested an elbow on the armrest. "All of those would have been on the case file."  
  
" _Unless_." Gavin leaned forwards. "He's been paying someone to blitz his record."  
  
"But that can't be." Connor turned to look at the detective. "In order for them to accomplish this, they would have to hack into digital records. Which, might I add, are protected with state of the art firewalls, code encryption, and passwords. Only someone who has an Admin Code would be able to..." Connor froze, letting out a small 'oh' as he turned back around, letting his head fall back on the headrest. "You think he was able to acquire the code?"  
  
"Not necessarily." Gavin replied. "First scenario." He raised his pointer finger. "It's an inside job and one of our own people are working for him, or..." He held up a second finger. "He's hiring an _extremely_ skilled and experienced hacker."  
  
"So you're telling us that this man." Hank paused. "Has the resources to get into all of our files at the precinct." He furrowed his brows. "What's stopping him from digging further? Is this happening with other files as well? Are they getting blitzed clean?"  
  
"We can't jump to such quick conclusions." Connor stated. "We have no evidence for any of these accusations."  
  
"You half-way right, Con." Hank replied. "These are just theories right now." He paused. "However, how the hell was he going to get his record wiped out like that otherwise?"  
  
The Android's LED flickered to yellow as he looked down towards his shoes and let out a 'hmm'. "I suppose you're right, but. What about the Admin Code. He'd need that over anything." He crossed his arms. "And even _I_ don't have access to that."  
  
"I'll phone in the concerns to Fowler. Maybe he can put the system on the temporary shut down." The older detective leaned back in his seat before setting the windshield wipers to a faster pace.  
  
"Maybe that's just we need." Gavin shrugged. "Set a trap within the system. They have to be detectable in some way. We just haven't been able to catch it yet."  
  
"Did you find anything odd during the investigation at the crime scene, Reed?" Hank questioned.  
  
Gavin leaned back. "Not that I can place..." He trailed off. "I had one of these tin cans with me. Maybe it was able to detect something I couldn't." He pointed a thumb at Connor.  
  
"You can say Android, Detective." Connor said in a low voice like a growl and let out a huff as he glared over his shoulder.  
  
"Oh." Hank frowned as his eyes widened. "You better sort your shit out, Reed. He doesn't use that tone often."  
  
"What's he gonna do?" Gavin smirked. "Bite me?"  
  
"Reed!" Hank snapped. "Quit it."  
  
"I trust you have pretty good control of your robo dog, Hank."  
Dead silence followed, then an unmistakable _click_ from the passenger's seat, then _hiss_ of the belt retracting.  
"Oh, shit."


	17. End Of The Road

"Don't do it, Con. He's not worth it." Hank said as he extended his arm the moment Connor swung his leg over the center console.  
  
"He's not going cease agitating me unless I do something about it!" Connor shouted, placing a hand on the shoulder of the front seat, attempting to push away Hank's arm.  
  
By this time, Gavin had already unbuckled and was squatting on top of the seat in a very crab-like position.  
"Come get me, bitch."  
  
The car slowly came to crawl as the driver steered it over onto the shoulder of the road, then turned his chin over his shoulder. "What the honest fuck, Reed." He shoved a palm into Connor's chest, unintentionally hitting the glowing blue circle hidden by his clothes. He gasped as he fell back into his seat, quickly placing a hand over the center of his diaphragm.  
"Shit, Connor. Are you alright?"  
  
"Please excuse me for a moment." He righted himself up in his seat, then turned his body, shaking his head as he blinked rapidly. He flipped his tie over his shoulder before unbuttoning his white undershirt halfway down. Looking down at the now red circle glowing ominously. He let the skin receding from it, then gave it a twist. It clicked back into place just as Gavin looked over his shoulder.  
"Privacy, please, Detective!" He placed a palm dead in the center of Gavin's forehead before pushing him back before pulling his jacket forwards to shield his chest. Connor gave the circle a push and it rested back just as it needed to.  
  
"What's that all about?" Gavin growled. "I just wanted to see what you were doing."  
  
"It doesn't concern you, Reed." Connor fixed his shirt as quickly as he could, catching his reflection in the window for a moment. Was he blushing

"You sure you're okay, Con?" Hank questioned in a hushed whisper.

The Android paused for a moment. "You somehow jarred my Thirium Regulator..." He adjusted his tie. "I received no warnings in my systems that it had become unlocked. It shouldn't have become unlocked to begin with." He shuffled uncomfortably. "And I don't...like it when people see my Android self. It makes me feel...less..." He bit his lip. "Human."

Gavin laughed, earning a hard glare from Hank. "So let me get this straight." He began. "You're an Android embarrassed about being an Android, yeah?"

Connor's LED turned red as he averted his face from both of them. "I am not embarrassed by it." If he wasn't, then why was he so uncomfortable about it? He knew he was an Android, and he accepted that fact, but when he saw the white panels beneath his skin he felt different about it. When other people saw the paneling, it made him feel worse.

"Then why's your face blue?" Gavin prodded further

"Because you're making me uncomfortable!" Connor took a deep breath, trying to control the blue he knew was scrawled across his features.

"Just leave him alone, Reed." Hank sighed. "Please."

Connor pressed his back into his seat before putting his seatbelt back on. He kept his head lowered, and slightly tilted towards his window. "Let's just...get back on the road, shall we?" The android said in a hushed tone. Once there was a click in the back seat, the car pulled back onto the icy road. There was a long, bitter silence loomed between the three of them. Every now and again, Connor would look at Hank from the corners of his eyes and open his mouth to speak, but he couldn't quite bring himself to. He fiddled with the end of his tie as he watched the streetlights pass overhead. He knew it wouldn't be too much longer until they reached their destination. The silence was broken by the GPS reading off directions.

Hank cleared his throat. "We're about five minutes out."

"About time." Gavin said as he put his hands behind his head and stretched his shoulders back. "This car rides about as smooth as a tractor."

Hank rolled his eyes and groaned. "Maybe so, but it gets me where I need to go."

"Why not move to an autonomous car?"

Hank pursed his lip as he gripped the steering wheel a bit tighter. "Don't trust 'em."

"Aw, come on." The detective began. "If you can trust an Android, you can trust a self-driving car."

Hank didn't reply, just stared at the road ahead.

"Detective. I wouldn't push this topic." Connor looked over his shoulder, sadness crossing over his features. Connor knew good and well of his distrust of the vehicle, he knew about what happened to Hank's son. The Android knew it would be best to attempt to deflect the conversation and change it if he could.

"I just...prefer to be in control. Is that too much to ask?" Hank finally spoke.

"Eh, I guess." Gavin shrugged. "They're just much more convenient. Can't take a nap while driving manually. You should really get with the times, old man."

"Getting with the damn times is what ruined my life." Hank growled.

"That's it, up ahead." Connor intervened. "We should park somewhere inconspicuous,  perhaps the street over?" He suggested.

"Yeah, yeah." Hank nodded. "That's probably a good idea."

As Hank looked for a place to park, Connor turned his attention to Gavin. "As for you, Detective." He began. "No more questions, statements, insults or attitude from you if it does not pertain to the mission." The Android's expression was intense, eyebrows lowered and eyes glaring straight into the detective's soul, causing Gavin to swallow hard and blink a few times.

The snow crunched under the weight of the tires as it rolled to a stop, parking slightly in the frozen grass. The car dinged several times as the passengers unbuckled, then the engine ceased with a twist of the key. The moment the door opened, bitter cold lashed in relentlessly. Gavin fixed his hair then pulled a beanie over his head, then pulled the strings at the base of his hoodie to tighten it around his face. Hank squinted at him as he watched Gavin get out of the car.

"You're really going to walk up in there like that, Reed?"

"It's called style." Gavin shoved his hands into his pockets. "Not that you'd know anyth-"

Connor's LED turned red as he stared over the top of the car at Gavin as he slammed his door loud enough to get his attention.

 "I-I mean." Gavin coughed. "Yes, yes I am."  
  
"Whatever, Reed." Hank replied with a gruff sigh, and the three made the short trudge to the house. The house was small two-story, shutters closed, blocking all but one of the windows on the first floor. Smoke was billowing from the thin chimney. There were two steps to leading onto the porch, the overhang blocking the snowflakes that drifted down. Hank knocked three times on the door while Connor peeked in the window just to the left. They waited a few moments before knocking again, this time much harder. Through the window, a TV illuminating the dark room could be seen, then a shadow pass over the wall, but no response to the door.  
  
"There's definitely someone in there." Connor told Hank.  
  
"Open up!" Hank said loudly, three pounds on the door followed, then after a few moments, the door finally creaked open.  
  
"What do you want?" A low voice questioned from the shadows, mostly obscured by the door.  
  
"We're looking for a man named Kevin Otelvar, know anything about him?" Hank questioned, and the green eyes in the darkness widened before the door slammed.  
  
"Hey!" Gavin cried out as he tried to push the door back open, but the series of locking sounds from behind gave them the idea that it wasn't going to happen. "Ah, fuck this." Gavin said, grabbing a snow shovel off the porch and slamming it into the window. He struck it a few more times to clear the shards of glass from the lower ledge. Connor lept through first, then Gavin, then Hank followed close behind, pulling his gun out of the holster and aiming, flipping the lights on with his elbow. The living room was cramped, way too small for comfort, to the right was the kitchen, a single light revealing a little bit of the kitchen table. Hank turned towards the sound of shuffling in the kitchen, Gavin pulled his gun as well.  
  
"We just need to talk." Connor said as he walked into the kitchen slowly, to see the man pressed against the cabinet, gun held in a shaking hand. "It's him." Connor said over his shoulder to his two partners.  
  
"You're one of those damn Androids, what the hell are you doing here." The man hissed, trying to get as much distance between himself and Connor as he could. "If you wanted to talk, you shouldn't have brought that  _thing_ in here!"  
  
"Put the damn gun down." Hank said as he stood beside the Android, gun trained on the man, Gavin did the same.  
  
"Not until you tell me why the fuck this thing is in my house!" Kevin growled, shaking his gun aggressively.  
  
"You're wanted for the attempted murder of the Android that used to belong to you. Her name is Andrea. Ring a bell?" Hank questioned, taking another step towards the man.  
  
Tension is the room immediately rose as Kevin gripped the gun tighter, his hands shaking. "She- She had it coming that, that damn thing!" His eyes flickered over to Connor's for a moment. "They're not alive anyway so what's the big deal?" He yelled through gritted teeth. "You don't have any right to be in my home! So get out!" He yelled.  
  
Connor took barely half a step forward. "We need you to tell us what you're doing, It's more than just an isolated incident, isn't it? I presume that-" The Android's eyes widened from the shock of impact.  
  
A single gunshot rang through everyone's ears, and Connor instantly stumbled back, placing a hand on the lower right portion of his stomach. Thirium pouring out of his side over his shirt and down to his shoe.  
  
"Motherfucker!" Hank yelled as he fired his gun at the man. Kevin dodged and began running up the stairs. Both Gavin and Hank chased close behind him as Connor sunk down to his knees. The world seemed to crawl to a halt, his vision blurring as he watched his friends run from him and after the suspect. He didn't feel the pain, but the fear racked through his mind. Windows popped up in his mind one after the other as systems began closing down for the sake of his preservation.  
  
_System Warning: Thirium depleting rapidly  
  
_Connor lifted his eyes towards the ceiling the moment he heard another gunshot, then a loud thud, followed by Hank letting out another string of cuss words. Moments later, Hank came running down the stairs. "We need back up and medical attention for an Android." Hank said into the phone before kneeling beside Connor.  
  
"Did you...apprehend him?" The Android questioned as he pressed into his wound harder, trying to stop the bleeding.  
  
"Yeah, he's disarmed and cuffed, Gavin's got him under control. We've got help on the way for you, don't worry okay?"  
  
"He got one of my main blue blood arteries." Connor furrowed his brows and scrunched his nose as he leaned forwards. "I think he knew where to shoot." His voice was pained as he forced his words past his lips.  
  
"Damn it..." Hank said under his breath as he grabbed a kitchen towel off the handle of the stove, bringing it over to Connor. The Android moved his hand and allowed Hank to press the towel into it. "You don't have any way to shut it off?" His voice was laced with anxiety as the blood soaked through the towel onto his hands, staining everything blue.  
  
"That's equivalent to me asking you if you can shut off your veins." Connor's arms began to feel weak, head becoming cloudier with every few moments that passed them by. "Do you have any Thirium in your car?" His voice lowered as it became harder to speak.  
  
"I don't." Hank shook his head, desperately pushing harder on the wound. "I'm sorry." He sighed. "They'll be here soon, okay? They're going to help you out."  
  
_System Warning: Thirium levels critical_  
  
"They need to hurry." Connor's eyelids began fluttering. "I don't have very long before I bleed out."  
  
"Reed!" Hank yelled, moments later the Detective came down the stairs, one hand on the back of Kevin's shirt, the other on the cuffs that keep the criminal's hands behind his back. "We need some blue blood right now." He turned to Kevin. "Do you have any around here?"  
  
"No." He said flatly, then spat towards Hank.  
  
"He's going to die if he doesn't refill!" Hank yelled.  
  
"Let him." Kevin spat and Gavin kicked him in the back of the legs, causing him to fall to his knees, then the Detective pointed a gun to the back of Kevin's head.  
  
"Tell us, now." Gavin's voice was deep and cold, the icy barrel pressed firmly against the enemies skull  
  
"Under the sink..." Kevin said reluctantly. Gavin shoved him to the floor and whipped open the cabinets under the sink, grabbing three tall cylindrical canisters of Thirium, taking them over to the Android quickly.  
  
"Here, drink." Hank said opening the first container. Connor grabbed it with a shaky hand and lifted it up to his lips, dowing the first container within a few seconds, then the next, then the last. The Android's mind became clearer for a minute or so, then started declining. Connor's LED sat at a steady red before eyes began flickering again.  
  
_Systems Critical: Emergency Stasis Mode initiation for preservation_  
  
Connor's vision became increasingly blurry until he could no longer make out Hank's shape and the sound of his Lieutenant's voice quickly followed into silence soon after. It was like he was being submerged underwater, slowly sinking and fading away as his body felt lighter. His red LED continued to glow, but his body fell limp on the tiles beneath him, completely unaware of the sirens coming to his rescue.


	18. Begin Again

"Connor?" Hank called out as he placed his hands on the Android's shoulders to keep him from falling forwards. "C'mon Connor, hang in there." He paused looking at the flickering red LED on the side of Connor's temple. "Please don't die on me."  
  
Connor's senses wavered in and out at his lowered state of consciousness. He could feel touch and movement, but couldn't place where he was, what happened, or who was around him. Words echoed into his head, but they were only meaningless sounds drifting by. His heart rate slowed dramatically, preserving what little Thirium he had left in his body. He felt himself being lifted, unaware of where to or where from, then gently placed down on a surface that gave in a bit to his body weight.  
  
_Systems Stabilization Error_

"Haank..." The Android's voice was broken and full of static, lips barely moving as he spoke, confusion still muddling his mind, eyes struggling to open even in the slightest. Even in his weakened state, deep inside his instincts still knew who to call for help  
  
"I'm here." Hank replied, Connor's LED flickering to an extremely dull red, light almost fading out at times. His eyes flashed up to the Android trying to help him, eyes as full of concern as Hank's. The Andoird's blue eyes turned back to Connor as he placed a hand on his forearm.  
  
"He's still alive, he's okay." The male Android replied. "We're going to help him."  
  
A female android came around to his side, placing a mechanical patch on Connor's side, closing up the wound and heating up enough to cauterize the blue wire that had been damaged. The vehicle they were in was similar to an ambulance but much bigger, bus-like even, full of replacement parts for Androids, emergency supplies, Thirium, and anything an Android could possibly need.  
  
"We're going to need to replace his side paneling, it was roughed up bad enough for his synthetic skin not to function over it." The female android spoke, pushing a strand of her short brown hair behind her ear.  
  
"Do whatever you need to do." Hank looked Connor up and down. "Just...fix him up for me, okay?"  
  
The Android nodded. "We'll need to change it out at a Cyberlife Center." She paused. "The good news is, he isn't losing any more blood, and he's getting more blue blood in his system now."  
  
Hank cringed a little bit as his eyes traced the large blue cable snaking into Connor's partially opened abdomen, seeing the white paneling along his torso and the various others wires inside.  
  
"However..." She began. "He's scared, his processors aren't able to translate what's going on around him. All he knows is something wrong."  
  
Hank let out a sad sigh before grabbing on Connor's hand, holding it tightly. "I'm here, son...I'm here."  
  
Connor's red LED grew brighter for just a moment then circled once with blue. Hank held on to the hope that maybe he could hear him. Maybe he could understand him and draw some comfort from him. It felt like forever until they finally reached Cyberlife, the two other Androids continued scrambling around him, doing their best to keep his system's stable. Once they brought Connor inside, it wasn't long before he was out of Hank's sight. Delilah, the Android that helped back up Connor's systems hurried up to Hank with a worried expression on her face.  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"He got shot." Hank said flatly, letting his eyes connect with hers for a brief moment.  
  
"Oh my god..." She shook her head, brows furrowed as she placed the heel of her palm against her lips, fingers curling around her cheek. "I'm so sorry."  
  
"Me too." Hank nodded slowly. "They're working on fixing him up now." He paused. "They said he was okay, but his LED looked like it was about to fade out at any second." He took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "I don't know what I'm going to do if they can't save him."  
  
"They will." Delilah's expression turned determined. "We're working on his back-up files as well."  
  
"No, no, no." Hank shook his head side to side. "I don't want a copy or a look alike, I want the Connor they took back there with them." He pointing down the hall aggressively.  
  
"Cyber Consciousness is a little bit different than that of a human's." She began. "Mentally he's in two places at once, but his back-up self is in a dormant state to prevent further damage, so he's only aware of one. Does that make sense?"  
  
"Ah, hell if I know." The older man scrunched his nose and ran a hand through his hair before pacing back and forth. "Why's all this Android shit gotta be so damn confusing!" He growled.  
  
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you."  
  
"It's not your fault." Hank let his hand fall from his hair back down to his side heavily before turning back to face the Android. "I just. I shouldn't have let him go in front of me, I knew that guy was a danger to Android's and now he's here because of me."  
  
"You can't put something like that on yourself, Lieutenant Anderson."  
  
"I can when it's my own damn fault." His said through gritted teeth as he cursed himself as the heaviness in his chest only grew worse. He bit his cheek and turned his eyes to the ceiling. "I'm such an idiot."  
  
"Hey." A voice called from behind Delilah. "I brought your car, figured you'd need it." It was Gavin, speaking it a surprisingly docile tone.  
  
Hank turned his eyes and focused on the younger man. "Thanks, Reed."  
  
"How's Robocop?" Gavin questioned in a low voice as he slipped his freezing hands into the pockets of his jacket.  
  
"Don't know yet." Hank gave a defeated shrug.  
  
"How about I go check up on him for you two?" Delilah questioned and Hank gave her a quick nod. She soon disappeared from sight, just as Connor did not long ago.  
  
"I don't get it." Gavin said as he bit his lip, cocking his head to the side. "Why do you care about that Android so much?" He paused shaking his head. "He's not human, he's just a machine."  
  
"Of course he's not human, dumbass, but he's alive. A living, feeling being, just like us, just made of different parts." Hank paused as he crossed his arms, voice becoming soft. "Maybe if you just spent a little time with one, maybe you'd be able to understand."  
  
Gavin only 'tsked' and copied Hank's crossed-arm pose, causing the older man to roll his eyes in response.  
  
"I am serious though, Gav, Android's aren't going anywhere. In fact, there's probably going to be more and more around you as time goes by. Might as well get used to them."  
  
"Doesn't mean I have to like them." Gavin scoffed, expression turning more and more annoyed as Hank continued to speak. "I only came here to bring you your car, not to have a heart to heart on your opinion of Androids." He groaned, plopping down in the nearest chair against the wall.  
  
"Fine, whatever, go ahead and stew in your hatred for them over there in your corner." Hank waved his hand dismissively as he took a few steps into the center of the lobby. He watched as other Android's came through the doors, being greeted by the Android crew behind the long desk ahead. Many seemed to be coming in for minor repairs and some altering. New parts made some of the older models stronger and more resilient.  
  
Around thirty minutes later, Delilah returned. "He's been repaired, however, his systems are taking longer to reboot. We...aren't quite sure why, but from what we can tell, he's okay."  
  
"Let me see him." Hank said flatly, tilting his head in the direction Delilah had come from.  
  
"I strongly advice against that..." She trailed.  
  
"Why, you said he's already been repaired." He squinted angrily. "Is there something else going on with him that you're not telling me?"  
  
"N-no, of course not!" Delilah replied quickly, waving her hands in front of her, LED flickering red. "It's just, we have him up on the rig."  
  
"The hell does that mean?" Gavin's eyes flashed between the two. "Did you have to take him apart or some shit?"  
  
"No, of course not." She replied, LED calming to a yellow as she eyed Gavin, then turned to Hank. "If you're particularly close with him, you can come back. But, it could be a little jarring for you."  
  
"Look, I've seen a lot of things in my days, I don't think my partners going to scare me." Hank shrugged.  
  
"What about you?" She turned to Gavin who was already shaking his head side to side.  
  
"No, hell nah, I'm not into that freaky Android shit."  
  
Delilah blinked a few times as she scrunched her nose, offended at his comment, then led Hank towards the Diagnostics room, the same place where he'd gotten his memories uploaded. She pushed open the door and Hank's expression fell as his eyes scanned over the white and grey paneling that made up Connor's face and upper body, all the way down to his lower stomach, pants hiding the rest.  
  
"Are you okay?" Delilah questioned as she craned her neck around to look at the older man's expression.  
  
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Just not used to seeing him like this. It just looks like it hurts." Hank paused. "The whole rig things sticking into his back like that." He shuddered.  
  
"Android's don't feel pain, Lieutenant Anderson." She turned towards Connor. "It allows us complete access for quick repairs."  
  
Within a few moments, skin began to spread back over Connor's body, flowing over the panels like water. His eyes flickered open, lifting his palms to watch the skin return to his fingers. Hank took a step towards Connor and the Android gave him a smile. "Hello."  
  
"Hey, how are you feeling? Is everything okay."  
  
"Yes, my systems are all in working order." Connor blinked as he tilted his head to the side for a moment, examining Hank. "My designated model is RK800, serial number 313-248-317-51." His brown eyes were bright and welcoming. "Would you like to give me a name?"


	19. Remember Me

"Connor?" Hank questioned as he approached the Android cautiously. Eyes locked on the others.

"Connor..." He paused. "My name is Connor." The Android gave a slow nod, moving his legs slightly, confused as to why they weren't touching the ground. "Can you please let me down?" He looked between Delilah and Hank.

"Of course." The female Android activated the release with a press of a button and it lowered Connor to the ground before releasing him. He shuffled slightly then took a step off the platform.

"You look distressed..." Connor attempted to look up details on the older man, but his system limitations wouldn't quite allow. His squinted as he tried to focus, but couldn't recall any data.

"Connor..." Hank paused, taking another step toward him. "Do you know who I am? Do you remember me?"

"You'll have to forgive me." Connor paused, sliding his arms into the white shirt Delilah had handed to him. "I don't quite understand your question." He began buttoning up his shirt. "How can I remember someone I've only just met?"

Hank's blood ran cold as panic began to set in. "Connor, we've been working together for almost a year, how can you forget who I am?" His voice was desperate and confused.

Connor's LED flickered to red and his expression saddened as his eyes flashed between Hank's "I'm sorry if I'm causing you distress." He slipped on his signature jacket. "It isn't my intention to do so." The Android felt as though his heart was sinking, but he couldn't understand why. He couldn't understand why the man in front of him was so upset.

"Connor." Delilah started and placed a hand on his arm. "I'm going to need you to stay right here for a moment while I talk to Lieutenant Hank Anderson." She turned towards Hank. "We'll only be a moment, I promise."

"Okay." Connor replied, feeling a bit anxious as he watched Hank and Delilah walk away.

The two stepped outside the door, letting it fall closed behind them as they began to walk down the hall.

"What the _fuck_ was that about?" Hank pointed back toward the door, voice hushed but filled with anger.

"The stress has been too hard on his systems." Delilah frowned, turning her eyes away from Hank. "He's been reset."

"No..." Hank blinked as he shook his head side to side, heart flooding with a bitter sadness. "No, no, no." He threaded his fingers into his hair and let his palm rest on the top of his head for a moment. "Undo the reset!"

"That's impossible." Her eyes were lowered as she bit her lip. "If he was your friend before, then I'm sure he'll be your friend again."

"You have no fuckin' clue what we've been through together." Hank closed his eyes and let his hand fall back to his side from where it rested on his head. "He saved my life, and I've saved his." He looked back at Delilah. "He knew me like no one else, and now..." He paused. "He didn't even know my _name_." Hank enunciated his final word by bobbing his head.

"Android's are extremely fast learners." Delilah told him. "Just. Take him home, talk to him, be patient with him, okay?"

"He told me not long ago he was terrified of the thought of losing his memory." Hank's brows furrowed. "He told me that experiences are what make of who we are." He tilted his head and took a breath. "So what does that make that RK800 in there? He doesn't have a clue of the life he's lived before."

"What he doesn't know can't hurt him at this time." She paused. "We have back-up files for him, but they aren't done being repaired yet."

Hank's eyes widened. "Give him his files back!" Hank demanded.

"We can't!" Delilah retorted. "They aren't ready yet, and I'm going to need you to lower your voice. Just please do as I told you and take him home. Don't put any more stress on him. He may not realize it anymore, but his systems are still dealing with the toll left by the situation."

There was a long moment of silence as the two stared at each other, then Hank finally nodded as he shuffled his feet. "Okay. Alright." He sighed. "Just. I need to talk to Gavin up front. Let him know the situation. Could you bring him out in a few minutes?"

"Of course." She gestured a hand towards the lobby, signaling 'go ahead'.

Hank walked down the quiet hall, listening to the clicking of his shoes with every step that he made. Even if they used the back-up files to restore Connor, would it still really be him? How could it still be him? Is the Connor in there now still the original or did the original die with the reset? The questions swirled around Hank's brain like a cyclone. It made him feel dizzy and sick to his stomach as each question was worse than the last.

"That didn't take very long." Gavin said. He was leaned back in his chair, arms crossed and bouncing his leg. "Where's the tin-"

Hank shot him a glare that made his words catch in his throat. "We've got a bit of a situation, and I'm going to need to you listen very carefully, Reed." Hank paused. "The plan is to drop you back off at the Station so you can get your car, right?"

"Yeah, sounds about right." Gavin stuck his tongue in his cheek and nodded.

"So you're going to be in the same vehicle with Connor."

"Yeah...?" Gavin turned his head away slightly, eyes still staring at Hank. "I figured that much."

"Don't say anything to him. In fact, I'm going to need you to keep your mouth shut the entire time." Hank's voice was serious, glare stabbing into Gavin.

"Why the hell do I need to do that?"

"They...they reset him. He doesn't know who I am, who you are, or even who he is." The words felt like a knife in his heart as he heard himself speak.

Gavin's eyes widened with a brow quirked, then slowly he smirked. "But that could be so fun. Think of the possibilities!" His tone was hushed.

"You aren't manipulating him, Reed." Hank's voice was irritated.

"Not even a little?" Gavin held his pointer finger and thumb close together. "We could get him to think he's a toaster."

"They reset him, not turned him into an idiot." Hank growled. "And why the hell a toaster?"

Gavin made a sound translateable to 'I dunno' as he shrugged.

"Just." Hank pinched the bridge of his nose. "Don't do anything stupid, okay? That's all I ask of you." He paused. " _Please_."

"Alright. Fine." Gavin finally agreed as he hopped to his feet. "So where's he at?"

"He'll be out in a few minutes." Hank said as he looked over his shoulder to the hall he'd come down.

Back in diagnostic's room, Connor was beginning to feel nervous, having to fight the urge to pace back and forth, fiddling with his tie as he glanced around, finding it harder to make eye contact with Delilah. "Was I...Was I supposed to know him?" Connor questioned he focused on one of the computer monitors. "He seemed upset. Is angry with me?"

"Oh, no, He's not angry with you. Don't worry about that." Delilah told Connor. "However, you have lost just a little bit of your memory. I know you'll catch on quickly, just keep an open mind, okay?" She smiled. "You're going to be leaving with Lieutenant Anderson. He's the one who brought you here." She opened the door to let Connor out.

"He brought me here?" Connor tilted his head. "Why?"

"Just for a couple of repairs." She waved her hand dismissively. "Come on, let's get you out of here."

"Alright." He said as his LED flickered to yellow for a moment. Something felt off, but he couldn't place it. He couldn't discern if the images in his mind were memories or simply the knowledge he was programmed with. He felt a faint familiarity as he walked down the hall and Hank's voice as it echoed through his head. As soon as Connor reached the two waiting on him, his eyes scanned over Gavin. "Who is this?" He turned to Hank.

"This is Gavin Reed." Hank patted the shorter detective on the shoulder, and Gavin frowned.

"Hello, Gavin." Connor nodded.

"I'll leave you three to get acquainted." Delilah said before quickly scurrying off, gone within a blink of an eye.

"Hi." Gavin said monotonously and as cold as stone, fighting his tongue from adding 'tin can' to the end of his greeting.

"You appear to be experiencing some emotional distress, Gavin." Connor cocked his head to the side.

"Don't worry about him." Hank told Connor. "He's just grumpy because he hasn't gotten his nap." Hank placed the side of his palm next to his mouth as he leaned in slightly towards the Android.

Gavin shot the older man a glare and a snarl but managed to keep his mouth shut.

"I would like to go home." Connor said with a small smile. "I have a home, correct?"

"Of course." Hank said softly. "We'll get you there soon enough. I think you'll like it a lot."  He returned a weak smile to Connor. It felt disheartening to hear the Android's questions. It was Connor standing before him, but at the same time, he felt empty. Void of the things that made him, well, him. Hank hoped that he'd become the Connor he used to be, he hoped that Cyberlife would be able to save his back-up files and let him become himself again. Then again, the Connor before him hadn't experienced hurt, loss, and sadness. He no longer has the memory of seeing Android's that died in front of himself with his finger on the trigger. There was a certain innocence to him now. A peace that maybe would be good for him. Maybe a reset it was he needed after all.


	20. Home

Connor, Hank, and Gavin loaded into the small car, the Android doing his best to take in everything he could to get his systems back up to speed. The ride to the station was quiet, nothing but the cold wind rushing over the frame of the vehicle. Gavin shuffled every now and again, his heavy jacket ruffling enough to break the silence. The heater in the car seemed to take forever to warm up, leaving the two humans with cold, almost numb noses.  
  
"You both seem very quiet. Is everything alright?" Connor's voice was low, worry carrying on his breath.

"It's okay, Con." Hank paused as he adjusted his rearview mirror. "It's just been a really long day."

"Con?" The Android questioned. "Is that your nickname for me?" His eyes were bright as he looked over at Hank, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

"Yep." The older man nodded. "Just, ya know. Shortened your name." He shrugged, not giving it too much thought.

"Do you have any nicknames for me?" Connor looked over his shoulder and questioned Gavin.

Gavin bit his lip, a bead of sweat on his forehead. "Hell yeah, I've got like twenty." He finally broke, unable to stay silent any longer. Maybe he could speak, as long as he was careful not to say anything hurtful or stupid. If he was honest with himself, he probably wouldn't be able to keep that up long either.

"Really?" The Android questioned. "That's quite a lot." He blinked a few times, a bit confused as to why Gavin would have so many for him. "Which one do you use most frequently?"

Hank's eyes stared into Gavin's soul through the rearview mirror, causing the detective to stutter over his words, trying to pick the least offensive one he could. "R-Robocop." He finally said with a nod and Hank's expression softened drastically, a sign that he had chosen correctly.

"Huh." Connor nodded as he adjusted back into his seat. "Clever and a tribute to a classic movie as well." The Android didn't seem too terribly impressed by it, but it was much better than it could have been. Toaster, tin can, sparkplug, plastic man, anything and everything went through Gavin's mind.

Finally, they turned into the station, quickly pulling into a parking spot. "Well, this is your stop, Gav." Hank said, letting his hands fall from the steering wheel, sparing Gavin a glance. The detective began to slip out of the car, and Hank slid him twenty bucks, Connor inquired as to why, and the older man simply said he was repaying him for something and for Connor not to worry about it. However, it was what Hank had referred to as 'shut up' money he'd agreed to give Gavin had he not said anything dumb on the ride to the precinct.

"He seems...interesting." Connor said as the car began down the street, eyes squinting as he turned to watch Gavin get into his own car.

Hank laughed. "Yeah, you could definitely say that."

The ride home was short, but on the way, the Android admired the snow, the lights, and the sounds, just as if it'd been the first time he's ever seen them. It was odd, to say the least, but deep inside he felt a peculiar familiarity nestle in his heart. A kind of understanding that can't be learned, only felt. It brought him comfort, but also concern. None of his processors knew quite how to decode it, so for now, he decided that it was best to push it to the back of his mind, and focus on gathering information to understand what memories were lost.

When they arrived Connor followed Hank up to the front door. He jumped as he heard a loud bark from behind the wooden door causing him to freeze in his tracks, eyes flickering about. The Android then took a step back and Hank looked at him in confusion.

"It seems that a large canine has infiltrated your house, Lieutenant."

"Nah." Hank scrunched his nose and pushed the key into the lock. "That's just Sumo. He's my dog." He turned the knob to open the door. "I have a good feeling he'll take a liking to you, so don't worry."

They stepped inside and Sumo instantly ran up to Connor, nuzzling him and his fluffy tail waving behind him. The Android paused for a moment, LED flickering yellow before returning to blue. He slowly lowered his hand onto the dogs head, feeling the soft fur. Connor smiled and squatted down so that he was on Sumo's level. "I like dogs, Lieutenant." He looked up at Hank for a moment.

"I had a feeling you would." Hank said as he took off his jacket and let out a yawn then looked down at Connor smiling at the Saint Bernard.

"Could I ask you a question?" The Android asked as he stood back up, fixing his hair that had been slicked by a surprise kiss from Sumo.

"Sure."

"Are we friends?"

"Yeah, of course. We even work together." Hank paused, brow furrowing in distress. "Do you...do you remember anything about me? Anything about a revolution? Amanda?"

"I don't." Connor replied sadly. "I'm sorry." His LED blinked red. "However, I can tell you about Amanda. She is an artificial intelligence that I have been programmed with. She relays my missions from Cyberlife and I report to her after missions to give a synopsis of how things are going." He nodded.

Hank plopped down on the couch, rested his elbows on his knees and put his face in his hands.

"You don't appear to be feeling well." Connor sat beside Hank, tilting his head forward in an attempt to look at his face.

"I'm just really tired. It's been a stressful day." He slid his hands off his face before straightening his posture. "A friend of mine can into a really bad accident and I don't know if he's still with us. I was there when it happened. I'm pretty sure it's my fault he got hurt."

"That's _terrible_." Connor's brow lowered in distress, his voice full of sympathy. "But you can't put that on yourself, Lieutenant. Do you think he would want that?"

"He..." Hank's eyes lowered. "He wouldn't want that." His voice was low as he stared at the coffee table in front of him. Quickly wiping away the tears that threatened to spill from the corner of his eyes.

"You two must have been very close."

"Yeah." Hank nodded a few times. "We were."  _Were_. His own words struck a bitter chord in his heart as Connor tried to understand the best he could. Maybe a drink would help ease the pain. Help ease the hurt he felt every time he looked into Connor's vacant eyes, completely unknowing of anything before the reset. A blank slate or the previous Connor. Or maybe even a new slate altogether.

"Lieutenant." Connor said softly, placing a hand on Hank's shoulder. "I was told I lost some of my memories. Was I there when your friend was injured?"

"Yeah." Hank nodded. "You were."

"Oh." The Android said sadly. "Then it was my fault he got hurt. Android's can be replaced, I should have protected him, Hank." LED flashed red. "I'm so sorry."

"Connor, no. You've got this all wrong." Hank placed a hand on his head as he leaned forwards. "It's can't possibly in any way be your fault." Hank paused as he leaned back. "And Android's can't be replaced!" He said loudly as he threw his hands forward before uprighting his position. "You might think they can, but they can't!" Hank snarled, brows furrowed. "They might look the same, talk the same, walk the same, but they're just-..." Hank leaned forwards and hid his face in his palms. "They're not the same." He shook his head side to side, heavy, shaky breaths just loud enough to hear gave Connor the indication he was crying. "They're just not..."

The Android's eyelids lowered as his LED flickered yellow for a moment before he leaned in, wrapping his arms around Hank and resting the side of his head on his shoulder. It just felt right. He felt Hank's form relax with a slow sigh.

Hank sniffled and cleared his throat, turning his head slightly, enough for Connor to see a few tears running down his face. "What are you doing, Con?"

"Earlier you said we were friends." Connor tightened his hug, smiling softly, and eyebrows furrowed and raised slightly, showing his sympathy. "I'm being your friend." He paused. "Is this okay?" Instead of answering, Hank turned to face Connor and brought him into a _real_ hug. He wrapped his arms around the Android's torso.

"How can you possibly care about me when you don't know anything about me?" Hank questioned gruffly, digging his chin into Connor's shoulder. "Or are you just doing this because it's one of your protocols?"

"I-..." Connor's LED turned yellow. "I don't know." He paused. "It's hard to explain." He stayed quiet for a few moments as he gathered his thoughts. Now that he thought about it, he couldn't quite understand it himself. What made him care so deeply about this man he's never met? How could he make him feel so safe? "It just...when I'm with you..." He relaxed his frame against Hank. "I'm home."


	21. The Heart Won't Forget

_I'm home._  
The words echoed through Hank's head as he pulled away from Connor. "How could you possibly know that if it isn't in your programming." He furrowed his brow. "Your memory was-" Voice cut out as he stopped himself from saying any more.

"I'm aware I lost some components of my memory..." Connor trailed off, LED flipping into the red as he turned his head away. "But I'm beginning to believe it might be more than that." His eyes fluttered closed, LED now yellow. "Every time I try to...recall anything. There's nothing. Just darkness mixed in with a jumble of different emotions. I can't seem to place them no matter how hard I try." The corners of his mouth dropped lower as he looked back at Hank. "They-" He almost choked. "They reset me, didn't they?"  
  
Hank froze, Connor's brown eyes digging deep into him, filled with fear and confusion. The older man opened his mouth to speak, but couldn't make a sound as if his words were caught in his throat. "Yeah...they did." He chewed at the inside of his cheek. "They didn't have a choice."

LED sat at a solid red, eyebrows quivering as his mouth opened and closed slowly, completely lost for words. "So I do know you." He paused. "I did know you." His eyes flickered around the room, heart rate speeding up, head spinning as he tried to recall something, anything that would give him a clue on what was going on, who Hank was, who he was. "I've lost everything since my activation." He felt trapped like he was locked in a cage as the room grew smaller. He placed his hands on the temples of his head as he leaned forwards. "What am I supposed to do? How much am I missing? What should I know?" The red circle flashed, fingers tightening into his hair. This couldn't be happening, it couldn't. No. He felt so lost he could barely stand it.  
  
"You're going to need to trust your instincts, Connor." He lowered his head, trying to meet the Android's gaze, only to find his eyes were shut tightly. "You proved to me that you have them." Connor opened his eyes, staring blankly as Hank continued to speak. "Your mind may have forgotten things, but your heart hasn't. Don't know how, but it did."

"That's impractical!" Connor interjected, letting his hands fall onto his thighs, rubbing forwards and backward. "My Thirium regulator doesn't possess the ability to store data! Its function is to circulate thirium through my Biocomponents!" His voice rose with every statement, frustrations giving off his tone rather than anger.

"Not your physical heart, Con." Hank huffed.

"I don't possess a theoretical or mental heart either."  
  
"No, no." Hank waved a hand in front of him. "Your emotions or what-not. Senses or consciousness or instinct. Whatever the hell you wanna call it. Maybe all of the above? I don't know..." He trailed off. "It's difficult to explain, but do you get what I'm gettin' at?"

The Android's analytical stare caused an unsettling feeling to grow in the pit of Hank's stomach, not knowing what his response would be, or if his systems were going to crash based on how hard he was focusing. All he could do was watch Connor's yellow LED spin as he processed his information.  
  
"Android's weren't initially programmed to have such things...Instinct maybe, but more in the sense that they're able to calculate the most possible situation and adjust their actions based on the information." Connor replied, a curious of what Hank was speaking of.

"They weren't programmed to be deviants, but they were. Your programming gained understanding of something beyond 1's and 0's."

"We were fully conscious beings restrained within code..." Connor added. "But I was reset. I shouldn't have emotions like this anymore. Android's weren't meant to have them." His mind was trying to grasp at a vague sense. His body feeling more and more tense as he spoke.  
  
"Android's have emotions because they're living creatures. Even Sumo over there has feelings." He tilted his head in the direction of the snoozing pooch. "And if he has them, then there's no reason a being of higher intelligence can't." Hank told him, giving a small smile.

"That makes sense." Connor nodded slowly. "But, I want my memories back." He sighed heavily. "Aren't experiences what make us who we are?"

Hank paused at the familiar statement he'd heard the Android tell him at the station, just after the questioning of Andrea. "Con." The older man blinked a few times. "I think it's more than that." He shook his head left then right. "You said the same damn thing to me at the station." His smile grew a bit more. "You're you, still destined to become the same Connor as you were before."

"So you believe in fate?" Connor questioned quickly.  
  
"Kind of, I guess." Hank shrugged. "If it adds up, then maybe."

"But-" Connor scrunched his nose. "If a certain fate has already be enacted, then how can the same fate occur twice? I highly doubt that the experiences of my past will repeat themselves chronologically for the sake of my 'fate'."  
  
The older man groaned. "I don't know, Connor." He rested his elbow on his knee and his head on his knuckes. "Time doesn't repeat itself or slow down." He splayed the fingers under his chin outwards as he shrugged. "But the way you handle things." He paused with a nod. "That's what helps make you who you are. So even if the same thing doesn't happen twice, you can still experience a similar feeling in a different situation."

"I suppose you're correct." Connor's expression turned disgruntled, eyes lowering with his browns as he bit his lip. "But-." He raised his eyesbrows for a second as he emphasised the word. "I don't know who I am." He paused. "Who am I, Hank?"  
  
"You're Connor."  
  
"Yes, that's my _name_ ," He raised his voice. "But _who_ am I?" His eyes seemed almost distant as they bore into Hank's. "Because right now, all I am is an Android scrambling about because I can't remember a damn thing!" LED circled one round blue, one round yellow, and sat at a steady red. "I can't figure this out on my own, I have absolutely no data to go off of." His eyebrows twitched slightly as he swallowed hard. "I need you to help me." He paused. "I need to get my data and my memories back."

"They can't give them to you. They're ridden with corruption and damaged files."

"I need them back." Connor repeated determinedly. " _Please._ "

"It could kill you, Con." He stared at the android in an attempt to talk a bit of sense into his panicked state. "I already tried to get them to give you your back-up files. It might be better this way, there's less of a chance of you getting hurt."

Connor sat in silence. "Better this way?" His voice was almost a whisper. "Me not knowing who I am? Why I care about you? Why they took my memories away?"

"They didn't have a choice Connor, they didn't want to reset you, but the damage was too severe!"

"I was damaged...?"  
  
Hank froze, unable to retract his statement. "We-...you were-" Hank tried to string together some words that would somehow make everything okay. Maybe he should just tell him the truth, maybe he'd be okay with it?

"I was the friend, wasn't I?" Connor sat up straight, expression cold, grief lightly painted on his features. "The one in your story that got hurt." He blinked slowly. "You believed that you lost me, even when I'm sitting right in front of you?"  The android gestured at himself, an expression of confusion scattered across his features.

"I...I don't know how the whole Android reset progress works. It scares me to think that I lost the old Connor durring the reset and that..." He bowed his head low, hands folded in his lap. "You're just a look alike, y'know?"  
  
"But..." Connor chewed at his bottom lips. "I'm still the same me I was before...right?" His voice low and gentle. "If my 'heart' hasn't forgotten the things of my past, then it's the heart that belongs to the original Connor. Which is me." His eyelids lowered as he turned his gaze to the floor, picking out the intracasies of the rug beneath the coffee table with his eyes.

Hank nodded and lifted his head, staring at the blank black screen of the tv across the room. "Yeah, I know. It's just hard for me to understand. The fears are still in the back of my mind and I can't shake 'em."  
  
"I understand your fears." He paused for a moment, shuffling nervously in his seat. "Do you think...that maybe you could tell me about who I used to be? I would greatly appreciate it and it would help me make sense of a lot of things."

"I'll do my best." Hank began, turning his head towards Connor. "Where do you wanna start?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys! Thank you for sticking with me through this story. I truly appreciate it!  
> Sorry, I haven't posted for an entire week, I've not been feeling too well...  
> However, I will be posting another chapter tomorrow to make up for it.  
> Thanks again, and I hope you all are enjoying! <3


	22. A Glimpse Into The Past

"What's my purpose?" Connor interjected his question immediately. "What is the reason for my creation?"  
  
"Well, originally you were designed to hunt down deviants." Hank told him as he crossed his arms and sunk into the back of the couch.  
  
"Hunt?" Connor inquired flatly, turning his body more towards Hank. "But I'm a deviant and... hunt? As in kill?"  
  
"If needed." Hank said under his breath. "When you were created, you were far from deviant. Stone cold and analytical." Memories flooded into Hank's mind of the first time the two of them met. He was far from a fan of Connor in the beginning, seeing his as nothing more than a machine. "You didn't get the best out of me in the beginning either." He added.  
  
Connor stood, placing a hand on his forehead. "Then my code was flawed, correct?"  
  
"I wouldn't call it a flaw, Con." Hank sighed. "You became self-aware. It wasn't a mistake."  
  
How could it have not been a mistake? Connor knew that he deviated from his code to become something he was never supposed to be. It made guilt begin to well up in his heart, but at the same time, having the freedom to think and feel as he pleased gave him comfort. It was as if two different parts of him existed at the same time, telling him different things in each ear. Stay deviant. Remain a machine. Back and forth they bickered even though he knew in this moment he was alive and if he was alive, then he was deviant. One couldn't exist without the other.  
  
"I don't understand." The LED indicator swirled yellow, then red for half a second. "So my only purpose was to hunt and kill my own kind?" His voice raised at the end as anger carried over this breath as he pointed a thumb to his chest. "You're telling me that-"  
  
"Connor, calm down, that's not all to the story." Hank held his hands up in front of him as he stood and turned towards the Android. "Your purpose changed after the Android revolution, led by Markus. He's our friend now, along with several other androids on a ship known as Jericho." He took a few cautious steps towards Connor, seeing his breathing pick up as his eyes flickered around the room in a panic. "You're a good guy, you help Androids and humans alike now."

Connor looked at Hank for a moment, then turned his back to the older man. He took a few steps before he came to a halt and spoke. "So I was...bad before?"

"You were only following the orders you were given. You didn't have any say in the matter and you didn't understand."

"That's not enough." The Android said softly as he turned towards the Lieutenant, eye's empty, scarce emotion lingering in them. Eyebrows quivering as he pursed his lips.

"That's just the beginning of your story. I need you to listen to me, Con, please." He tried to place a hand on Connor's shoulder, but the Android rotated his torso to the side, the older man's hand fell back down to his own side.

"I think...I think it might be best if I'm alone for a little while." He slowly turned and walked away from Hank.

"You helped save them." Hank spoke loudly. "You're part of the reason the Android's are free." He sighed. "We don't alway start out at the place we want to be or the people we want to be. But who we become is what matters."

Connor looked over his shoulder, eyes drifting back and forth as he processed Hank's statement. "Then why do I possess so much...guilt? The guilt of things I can't even remember."

"Things got pretty difficult, but just let it go." Hank said in a quiet voice. "You've always done your best and you've saved my life more than once." He raised his eyebrows. "I owe you a lot for that, Con."

The Android turned back towards Hank. "I wish I had all the pieces to this puzzle. With the pieces scattered as they are, it makes the 'big picture' impossible to conjure in my mind." He paused. "Perhaps I should make a report to Cyberlife. It is an intragal part of my systems, so I'm sure they have some information to help me with my memory loss." He closed his eyes gently, a small wirring of his systems whispered through the air as his LED flickered to yellow, processing the switch.

"Woah, woah, wait a second. "Hank shook Connor's shoulder as it to keep him from falling asleep. "You can't go and do that, Con." The older man's expression turned dire. "Amanda isn't your friend, you can't go near her, and you sure as hell can't go into that damn mind garden!" He shook the Android's shoulder again, this time much harder.

Connor's eyes opened and his eyebrows knitted together as he scanned the frame infront of him. "What are you doing, Hank?" He questioned in an annoyed tone. "I need to report to Cyberlife now. In order to get to them, I have to speak with Amanda. She'll tell me everything I need to know." He let his eyelids drift closed once more.

"Connor! You need to trust me! Last time you spoke with her, you couldn't wake back up. Her entire goal is to destroy you from the inside out." His voice became dire towards the end as he tried to convince his friend of the danger that awaited him if Connor drifted into his own mind.

There was a pause as Connor's LED turned red, eyelids fluttering open halfway as he blinked a few times. "I don't understand what you're trying to tell me." His voice was quiet, mystified by his own lack of comprehension of the situation. "How can she be against me when she's a part of me?" His sorrowful brown eyes met Hank's, trying to scan him for any clue that he might be lying or mistaken. He wanted to believe that he was lying. He wanted to believe he could simply comunicate to Cyberlife and have things explained to his more clearly, but the look on Hank's face told him otherwise. "Why?" His voice trailed over his lips as a breathy whisper that the older man could barely hear.

"You deviated, she deviated." Hank tilted his head to the left, then the right emphasizing his point. "Both of you chose different paths. Opposite paths once you two became deviant." He let out a deep breath he didn't even realize he was holding. "She wants to hurt you, Con, and we can't let that happen, okay?"

"Okay." Connor replied back. "Is there...anything else I should know?"

"Well, apparently, there's another one of you." Hank started and the Android tilted his head curiously. "Except this one doesn't want to kill ya. He's an...KR9...?" He questioned and squinted his eyes. "No, no that's not right..." He stroked his beard. "RK900!" He corrected himself. "Apparently he wants to help you, but the downside is, we have absolutely no idea where he is."

"No clues what-so-ever?" The Android groaned. "The only Android that can possibly help me and there's no way for me to get his coordinants? Is this a joke?" Frustration was picking up in Connor's voice, he wanted the situation to be over with as soon as possible, but now this? Something that he couldn't resonably solve without a shit ton of investigation?

"I wouldn't make a joke like that."

Connor slowly sat back down on the couch, running a hand through his hair before folding his hands and letting them hang between his knees, head tilted downwards. "Then what the hell am I supposed to do?" He turned his eyes up towards Hank. "I've got nothing." His gaze dropped towards the ground as he shook his head. "I'm..." He bit his lip. "Defective...Broken." He raised his eyebrows as his words escaped his mouth, shooting their own sting of grief into his heart.

"No, you're not." Hank quickly replied, squating down infront of Connor so that he could meet his eyes. "You're not. Okay?"

"How can you say that? Look at me..." He gestured at himself with both arms. "I have nothing to assist in finding RK900, or why Amanda has gone rogue, or why I was stupid enough to put myself in a situation so dire I had to be reset!" His voice raised with every item on the list. He dug his nails into his knees, closing his eyes so he didn't have to look at Hank.

"Look at me, Kid." Hank's voice was gruff, yet full of sympathy. "I know how you feel." He paused. "To feel less than good enough."

Connor let his eyes drift open and look down to Hank. "Did you..." He furrowed his brows. "Lose your memory as well?"

Hank pursed his lips looked off to the side. "Not exactly...but I did lose someone who shared a lot of my best memories."


	23. A Shared Sorrow

"How can another take your memories away from you?" Connor squinted, LED swirling, grasping for even the slightest bit of understanding.  
  
"I don't mean it in the literal sense." Hank sighed. "I mean it in the way that those good memories hurt every now and again. Because I know I'll never get any more of them." He stated sadly. "But I understand what you feel. You feel lost, but you aren't alone."  
  
"You've felt this...'lostness'?" He questioned, unable to pinpoint the exact word he needed, so he improvised the best he could.  
  
"Yeah." Hank nodded as he sat next to Connor. "You're the one who saved me from it. You're the reason I stopped feeling lost and found a way out of it." He raised his eyebrows and leaned forwards. "You saved my life." Connor turned his head slowly to continue eye contact.  
  
"Were you...one of my missions?" The Android questioned.  
  
Hank huffed a small laugh. "No, but you sure damn well treated me like one." He smiled.  
  
"I see." Connor nodded. Perhaps through deviancy, he was able to create his own missions, perhaps Hank was legitimately one of his missions he declared on his own. Or was it simply a task following an emotion that he felt towards his friend. Perhaps he called it a mission to push the idea that failure wasn't an option in this situation. That he needed to keep Hank alive and well. He couldn't lose him.  
  
"Just." Hank took a deep breath. "Your lack of memories is what is causing you grief, while on the other hand, my abundance of memories are causing me grief." He shook his head, looking up to the picture on the wall. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say we were in the same damn boat." He gruffly whispered.  
  
"You boat is sinking from the flood of memories, whilst mine rests on the shore." Connor sighed. "You can tell me what the water looks like, sounds like, even tastes like. But in the end, the water is only a concept for me. You're in a flood of memories while I'm in the drought." He paused. "It might be too much in the end, but would you rather never have the experiences?"  
  
Hank paused for a good while, contemplating his intense question. "I...I guess I would rather have the experiences than nothing at all." He blinked a few times, letting his gaze fall to his feet. "I'd never want to lose the memories of my son." He paused for a few moments. "Even if they hurt. They're all I have, after all." He sighed. "That and the pictures on the wall." His heart fell heavy. "That's all you really have to hold onto sometimes."  
  
"I'm so sorry, Hank." Connor spoke softly, looking up at the older man. He could feel the sadness in the way Hank spoke about his son, regret and anxiety poured off of him, pinging the radar in the Android's systems as Hank's stress level continued to rise.  
  
"You've got nothing to be sorry about, Kid."  He paused for a moment, checking the 'bing' that came from his phone. "I shouldn't have slipped up and put this all on you. It's not fair to you." He shook his head.  
  
"I needed to hear it." Connor said lowly. "I'm a detective Android. If I didn't find it out now, it wouldn't be long until I did. It's...probably better that it was you who told me." Connor paused, replaying the words that had just come out of his mouth. Detective Android. It's slipped off of his tongue so easily and naturally, seemingly out of nowhere, but right there when he needed it. _Instincts_. He thought, eyes narrowing and LED flickering yellow as he processed his thinking. He took a deep breath, trying to convince himself to just take things how they were until further notice.  
  
"Yeah." Hank nodded. "I just got a message from Gavin." He paused, letting his eyes skim over the text. "We've been dealing with a case about Kevin Otelvar." His thumb scrolled up on his phone. "Wanted for the attempted murder of an Android named Andrea. However." Hank raised his eyebrows. "We ran into a bit of a snag and found his information had just disappeared off the board." He handed his phone to Connor, letting the Android scan through, eyes flicking back and forth almost inhumanly as he finished the message within seconds. "Turns out, Reed was right." Hank shrugged. "It'll part of an underground scheme, most likely against Androids."  
  
Connor nodded slowly as he passed the phone back to Hank. "So the...precinct." The Android began, pulling the location from what he'd read on the text. "They've traced Kevin?"  
  
"He's already in custody. They're going to hold him until he can deal with a judge and all that. Gavin will probably take over the interrogation instead of us."  
  
"Why?" Connor questioned.  
  
"We typically handle this stuff, but since your systems are a bit compromised because of this guy...It might not be best for you to deal with him."  
  
"He did this to me?" The android spoke in a whisper. Eyebrows twitching. "Take me to him." His voice was flat, devoid of any emotion.  
  
"Connor, It's not a good idea for you to be face to face with this guy! He's violent."

"Then _restrain_ him, _Lieutenant_." He put emphasis on Hank's title.

"You're in a position of power over him, and in this particular situation, I think your mind might get a bit clouded with anger in there." Hank stood and Connor quickly followed.

"Don't you think I deserve to see the fear in the face of the man that tried to kill me?" Connor questioned. "Don't you think I should get a chance to question him?" He took a step forward and Hank took a step back. "Don't you think I should at least have the answer of why I didn't deserve to live in his eyes?"

Hank opened his mouth to speak, but let his lips fall close as he watched the shaky rise and fall of Connor's shoulders, the bitter, pained anger in his eyes as they locked onto his. "You're right." Hank let the words fall over his tongue. "You're right..." He repeated, letting his gaze break away from the Android, remembering the blue blood spilling over his hand and he heard the ruckus upstairs of Gavin subduing the aggressor. The panic in Connor's eyes as he fought to stay alive, fought to keep breathing, scared to fade away into the darkness that tried to welcome him.

Connor swallowed and turned his head away from the older man. "But." He started. "I must thank you. That whatever the situation was. You didn't let me go alone."

"Never." Hank said firmly. "We'll get everything sorted out, and get that scum bag put in jail for what he did to both you and Andrea." He let his expression soften. "Reed's taking an overnight shift to sort things out on the case. We'll head there first thing in the morning okay?"

"Why shouldn't we just go now?" The Android inquired.

"Because while I want to get right to it as well, I'm human and need to sleep. I also can't let you go out and about on your own either." Hank sighed. "We've run into quite a few problems with that lately.

"I understand..." Connor trailed off. "The human brain progressively loses cognitive ability when  faced with sleep deprivation."

"Bingo." Hank nodded. The damn Android didn't need to be so dictionary-like with his statements, but yet, there he was, Mr. Webster himself.

"I will temporarily go into stand by mode. This will alleviate me from my distress as well as keep me put through the night."

"What if you don't wake back up?" Hank questioned, concern growing in his voice with every word he spoke.

"I'm not turning myself off, reporting to Cyberlife, or entering a dormant state." He told Hank. "In human terms, I'm lowering my conscious levels, but not quite near the level of sleep."

"But Amanda. What if-"

"Trust me." Connor interrupted Hank swiftly. "I'll be okay. Now please go get some rest. The sooner you do the sooner we can depart to the precinct." There was a moment of dead silence as they stared at each other. The Android's LED spun yellow, closing his eyes and beginning to initiate stand by.

"Wait." Hank interjected, and Connor opened his eyes ever so slightly. "Wouldn't you be more comfortable on the couch?"

"Android's don't feel pain, and therefore don't feel discomfort. They do not grow tired either."

"What if I get up in the middle of the night for a glass of water and run into you looming about in the dark? I'll knock you square on your ass."

The Android blinked a few times, expression unchanging. "If you're that uncoordinated that I am an obstacle of potential hazard for you, then I suppose I could lay on the couch."

"Thank you." Hank said as Connor laid flat on his back, folding his hands over his stomach.

"Is this adequate?"

"Yes." Hank flicked off the lights, leaving the room to be illuminated by a mixture of moonlight, streetlamps and Connor's own LED flooding it's light over the back of the couch. He took a deep breath and let his systems begin cooling down as they slowed. Mind letting go of the emotions that coursed through his veins and entering into the numb bliss of his very own unawareness.

**Initiate Stand By Mode?**  
**Yes/No**

**_(Yes)_ **


	24. Nightshift

Gavin groaned loudly as he hung up the phone with Fowler. "Come in for an overnight shift, my ass." He leaned back in the seat of his car, before angrily shoving the door open and walking into the precinct. The only thing keeping him there was the fact that it was his idea that brought him back inside. The idea that maybe the criminal Kevin Otelvar had some inside ties to getting his named wiped clean.

"What brings you back here, Gav?" Tina questioned as she brushed her dark hair behind her ear and leaned back in her chair as he walked past.

"A clue for something big." He stated, yet his voice didn't sound too enthusiastic about it. Rather bland, unimpressed, but mostly tired. After the big ordeal with Connor getting shot him getting rushed to the Android hospital, getting the suspect into custody. He was pretty close to getting shot himself! Where was his recognition?

"Ooh." She hummed, standing up. "But you were just here a few hours ago, shouldn't you get some sleep?"

"Sleep is for the weak." Gavin huffed, continuing to walk towards Fowler's office at the back of the bullpen. "Mix a coffee and a red bull and I'll be set."

"Yeah, that'll probably kill you." Tina scrunched her nose, standing up to follow him.

"Ooh, a bonus." He said in a sarcastic, mocking tone.

"Don't be like that!" She slapped his shoulder, a bit more than playfully. "Are you even going to tell me the scoop on your investigation?'

Gavin yawned loudly. "I can't divulge any information to you, Miss Chen." He pushed arm, just enough to make her wobble a bit.

"You _can_ and _will_." She pointed a finger at him. "I heard Fowler on the phone with you, something about the security of the Precinct? Wanna tell me what _that's_ all about?"

Gavin opened his mouth to speak but quickly smirked the moment he heard Fowler call his name. "Saved by the bell." He said in a low sing song voice, turning on his heals. Leaving Chen, who only tsked and rolled her eyes before returning to her desk.

"Whatcha got, Captain?" Gavin walked up the stairs and walked through the open door of the glass office.

"You were right." Fowler threw a folder down on his desk. "We did a sweep through our security systems and found not one, not two, but eight different people who's names have been wipped clean. How do we know? Because of these." Fowler slid the files across the surface and Gavin picked them up. He opened it and his brow immediately furrowed.

"But all these people have several charges against them, and a good bit of jail time."

" _Exactly_." Fowler poked in the direction of the folder several times. "On our systems, they're completely clean. These files were printed out three weeks ago, and stuff like that doesn't just dissapear." He sat down in his office chair and opened his laptop, quickly typing in his password for access. "But that's not all." He spun his computer around. "You see this right here?" Fowler pointer to the center of his screen, green spikes of activity of the system, but in the center, it didn't quite match up. "The information from eight to nine PM is completely clipped out."

Gavin paused, arms crossed and eyes squinted as he leaned closer to the computer. "So what? You think they just came in during that time, cleared _eight_ names and bailed?" He scrunched his nose. "Why, and more importantly how the _hell_ did that do that?"

"That's why I called you back in here. You're going to figure it out." Fowler said as he turned his computer back towards himself. "I'm sending the information as well as the code to get into the system. All of it's going to your terminal" He stroked a few more keys, and pulled his hand away to give the enter key a theatrical tap. "I'm sure with your abilities, you will have no trouble with this assignment."

Gavin blinked slowly, expression stoic as the two stared at each other for a solid ten seconds. "Sounds great." Gavin patted the desk twice with a heavy hand before turning away.

"Good luck, Detective Reed." Fowler said without looking up from his computer. "And shut the door on your way out."

Gavin paused in the doorway and looked over his shoulder. "Is this is a matter of the entire precincts security, shouldn't _you_ be working on this with me?"

"Oh, so you think I'm just sitting in here doing nothing?" Fowler cocked an eyebrow at him. "All these papers just sitting around for fun? The _seventeen_ phone calls I've made since Hank phoned in several hours ago? Oh, wait, but _I_ don't have to explain myself to you!" His voice grew more and more agressive with every word he spoke out, pointing at the door, signaling him to leave, eyes flickering towards the exit as well.

"Fine!" Gavin shut the door before the Captain could squeeze in another word. "Was just a damn question."

"Have a nice chat?" Tina questioned, looking up at Gavin hauled his butt onto her desk, feet dangling off the floor. She eyed him for a moment. "Why are you like this?" She gestured a hand at him. "You're like a child."

"Bold words coming from someone sitting in lava."

"You're an idiot." She smirked, subconciously moving her feet from the floor onto the bars of her office chair, right above the wheels.

"Maybe so." He scrunched his nose at her. "But an idiot that got one hell of an assignment and doesn't have a fancy tin can to help me with it." He paused. "Sooo?"

"What about not having to divulge any information to me?" She quirked her eyebrow at him as she leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest. "Aren't you good enough on your own Mr. Certified Detective."

"I very much am, I will have you know." Gavin retorted. "But, I've already been up for eighteen hours and I don't wanna."

"Damn." Tina clicked her tongue. "Better get your red bull and coffee elixer then." She leaned forwads, back into typing her work.

"Aw, c'mon, I know you want to." He patted her computer moniter. "Get away from all this boring junk and work on a _real_ investigation."

"Oh, and you believe my work isn't as important?" She teased, staring him in the eyes with a smirk on her face.

" _Please_?" He practically had to choke the word out, but Tina immediately clasped her hands together.

"There we go! Now, where do we start?"

Gavin rolled his eyes and let out a deep sigh. "Meet me over at my terminal in five. You want me to whip you up an elixer too?" He slid off his Chen's desk, shoes clacking against the floor.

"Nah, I think I'll stick to water." She held up a shiney blue insulator cup. "Have fun with your witchcraft."

"It's alchemy! _Alchemy_!" Gavin emphasized, those being his last words to her before he disapeared into the break room. While he was away, Tina logged off of her computer, but not before transfering information she could pull up on a smaller, portible see through tablet. She scrolled through it as she stood, placing her thumb on the lower right corner of the screen to varify her identity. _Welcome, Miss Chen_. She quickly turned down the volume, not realizing it was maxed out, only to hear Gavin shuffling her way with two coffees repeating the devices words mockingly.

"You never rest, do you? Just every possible moment to tease me, you take it."

"That's the fun, baby." He clicked his tongue and walked over to his desk. Sure he was annoying, but he did have a point, she did enjoy his playful nature he showed to her. Unfortunately, he didn't have the same nature when it came to other people of the station, particularly Hank and especially Connor. Maybe it was because she actually gave him a chance? Actually put up with his nonsense long enough for him to mellow out? Or maybe since his snarky attitude didn't get to her, he deemed her a suitable friend. The theories were endless. He placed the coffees on the desk before plopping down in his seat and cracking his knuckles. "Let's crack this case open." He rubbed his hands together, creating a swishing sound with each swipe. "Let's see that stupid tin can, Connor do this!" He logged in with his fingerprint.

"Phenomenal. Superb. I'd give you a standing ovation had I not already been standing." Her voice was relatively flat and unimpressed throughout. Gavin shrugged as he began downloading the files Fowler sent to his computer. Eyes watching the green line race across the screen several times as file after file went through. Tina chewed her lip. "So, If I were an Android, would you hate me?"

"Yeah." His answer was immediate, causing Tina to scoff in feigned betrayal before she spoke.

"You're insufferable."


	25. A Wolf In Sheeps Clothing

As standby mode initiated for Connor, he found himself drifting into a peaceful place, one that seemed familiar only in the sense that it was a part of him. A place built within his mind, a sanctuary that followed him no matter which way he went. He had an understanding of what surrounded him, he didn't even have to open his eyes, instead, he found himself laying in the grass, body completely still as he listened to the sounds that whispered around him. The rustling leaves, the flow of the water. Everything so calming and peaceful, no sense of fear to drag its claws into him. Just the quietness and the stillness taking him over. Simply letting go of the confines of time he was bound to in the outside world. Blind and deaf to anything that might be going on outside his head. In the moment, none of it seemed to matter anymore, mind falling numb, focus dissipating, complete separation from everything but himself.  
  
"Connor?" A voice called softly, familiar and comforting. "Are you there, Connor?"  
  
The Android let his eyes flicker open, turning his head slightly so that he could focus on the figure crouching by his side. "Amanda?"  
  
"Good, good." She nodded. "I'm glad to see you haven't forgotten about me."  
  
"How could I? You're hardwired into my systems."  
  
Amanda laughed as she stood to her feet, her form was not solid, no longer invisible like she was before, unbeknownst to the Android. She reached a hand down to help him to his feet, which he accepted without second thought. As he stood, his mind began to clear, soon becoming more and more focused.  
  
Connor pulled his hand away from her quickly, taking a step back. "No." He shook his head. "I'm sorry, but Hank specifically told me you shouldn't be trusted. He looked behind him, unsure of where to run off too. "I think I should go."  
  
"And where to, Connor?" She tilted her head. "I can follow you wherever you go in here." She paused for a moment, letting out a small sigh. "And what reason do you have not to trust me? You said yourself I'm in your programming. Anything I do to you, is me doing something to myself." Amanda counteracted his step back with a step forwards. "Trusting a human over yourself?" She furrowed her brows.  
  
"I'm trusting a human over you." He nodded. "Not myself. I know who I am."

"Do you?" Amanda questioned doubtfully. "I know you've had your memories taken from you."

Connor paused for a moment, blinking as his eyes drifted to the swaying grass around his shoes. "Maybe, but..." He closed his eyes tightly. "Something doesn't feel right." He turned his eyes back to Amanda. "When I look at you, something within my systems tell me you're a threat."

"Connor..." The woman trailed off, hurt lacing her voice. "Why on earth would you think something like that?" She paused. "Hank told you this, didn't he?" She quirked a brow.

"Yes, but unlike you, I trust him."

"That's because he _wants_ you to trust him." Amanda scowled, turning away from him and beginning to walk down the cobblestone path, looking over her shoulder to see if he'd follow as she held her hands behind her back. "Walk with me?"

Connor nodded hesitantly, before slowly taking a few unsure steps, eventually matching her pace.

"Can't you see you're being used, Connor?" She questioned, looking up at her with distress lingering in her eyes. "They only want you because of the things you can provide them with on investigations. Don't you know this?"

"You're wrong." He stated blatantly, refusing to meet her eyes as he starred forwards, eyes flickering around to the different sceneries. "Hank told me to trust my instincts, and my instincts bring me to him, not you." His voice was low, calm, but a hint of waver caught Amanda's attention.

"But he's human." The woman tilted his chin up slightly, a gesture signifying humans were less than they were. "They all have hidden ambitions, no matter who they are. That's how they'll always be." She huffed. "You can't set aside that fact just because you care about him." She placed a hand on Connor's shoulder, and he looked down into her eyes. "In the end, he's only going to betray you. Let you down. Abandon you." She let her hand trail to his upper back in a gentle gesture. "But I won't."

He let a small sigh escape his lips as he tried to wrap his mind around her words. The only thing he could comprehend was the pain he felt in his chest. "Hank wouldn't." He shook his head. "He's my friend. You didn't see him like I have. He was afraid for me, he cares about me." Connor paused, turning back towards Amanda. "He would never hurt me."

"Humans can easily say one thing but do another. It isn't uncommon behavior." A dark aura flowed over her voice as she spoke. "He. Isn't. _Any_. Different." She enunciated each word with determination.

"No." Connor paused, clearing his throat, emotions beginning to feel as though they were choking him. "You're wrong." He adjusted his tie. "You're _wrong_." He repeated, hopefully convincing her that she was mistaken, even though Connor wasn't so sure anymore himself.

"You know I'm right." She looked at him sternly. "I know it's hard, but you can't reveal your vulnerabilities to him. Any of them for that matter."

Connor remained silent, heart heavy and mind full of distortions and unknowing who to trust. Amanda was apart of him. So would it be better to trust himself, or to trust Hank?  
"He brought me to Cyberlife...He saved my life. Why would he do that if he didn't care about me?"

"How do you know it actually happened? He could have simply taken you in to be reset." Amanda said softly. "You'd be surprised how often it happens. It's a real shame to take something like that from an Android. Every experience and moment that made them who they are just taken away as if it were nothing."

"I saw his eyes when he told me the story!" Connor raised his voice remembering the pain in Hank's eyes. He took a deep breath. "He did not reset me." He paused. "Nor did he _lie_ to me."

"What can I do to prove to you that I'm telling you the truth?" Amanda questioned him.

"I don't want it." He looked into her eyes with determination. "I just want to wake up." Connor pleaded with her. "Let me go. I need to figure this out on my own. Not from you, not from Hank, not from anyone but myself."

"But I _am_ a part of you, Connor."

" _Enough_." He shook his head then ran his fingers through his brown hair. "That's enough, I don't want to hear any more of it. I'm me and you're you. You might be connected to me but we aren't the same person." He let his hand fall back down to his side. "Your thoughts are separate from mine and so are our consciousnesses, therefore we are separate entities. Perhaps entwined, but not the same."

"I suppose you're right." Amanda nodded. "I never truly thought about it in that sense." She looked up at the disgruntled Android. "I trust you will make the right decision, Connor. I have faith in you."

Connor's expression softened and he let his body relax, taking in a few breaths to calm his synthetic nerves. One way or the other, which was the right path to take? Trust Amanda or trust Hank? Amanda was a part of his systems, but with Hank, he had an emotional attachment. Deep inside he knew he just wanted to put his trust in Hank, but a new faith was digging itself into his core, and that faith was trusting Amanda. He felt ambivalent about which to chose the longer he thought, the longer he mulled over the taxing question.

Several questions didn't add up in his head. Why would Hank have reset him to make up a false story about Connor being damaged? Why would Amanda attempt to get him to distrust Hank? Why did Amanda stress so much that she was a part of him? Why? Why? Why? The questions circled over and over again in his head until he couldn't take it anymore.

"I have to go." Without even waiting for a response he awoke from his standby mode, eyes flickering open and noting the drastic change in scenery. One that went from a beautiful well lit garden to a dimly lit living room, with the not so ambient sound of a dog snoring nearby. He swore he could still hear Amanda's voice in the back of his head, like a mix of his inner voice and a whisper, just the faintest bit louder than a thought. His LED flickered yellow. He sat up and turned towards the window, not even the faintest bit of sunlight had begun its daily ascent. He only sighed and leaned back into the couch. Why did it have to be so difficult? Why couldn't it just be cut and dry? Simple? Just choose the right path and move on with the rest of his life? Why couldn't he at least have a clear idea? The time was four thirty on the dot, quite a bit of time before sunrise, and quite a bit of time for Connor to mull over his own personal Clue game from hell.


	26. Wavering Faith

The next morning came swiftly, sunrise breaking through the grey overcast and through the window. Everything was still as Connor opened his eyes and let everything come into focus. His LED spun from blue to yellow as Amanda's words echoed in the back of his head. Who was he to trust? Surely it would be a simple choice, right? Previous to deviancy the answer would have been obvious, choose Amanda over Hank, but now that things were different it wasn't as clear.  
  
The Android was cautious as Hank made his way around the house to get ready for the day. Connor would be accompanying him to the precinct to try and make up for lost time, as well as finish dealing with Kevin's case. But that wasn't quite known to Connor just yet. Brown eyes flickered about as he silently and patiently waited, scanning his surroundings for any sliver of a possibility that Hank might be a threat to him.  
  
Sharp objects such as knives were secured in the kitchen, placed neatly in the silverware drawer. Empty beer bottles were scattered about, but only posed threat if they were broken. The Saint Bernard known as Sumo slowly padded his way through the house. He had the _potential_ to be dangerous, but it was very unlikely for such behavior to occur due to his docile state.  
  
_Maybe I'm just over thinking this._  
Connor thought and drew in a slow breath, letting his eyes wander around for a few more seconds before walking outside to wait for Hank. His mind felt like a blank slate, truth, and lies written as if they were one. Lost between two different realities, but not knowing which one was real and which one the illusion. The more he tried to solve the mystery the more puzzles it seemed to offer. Once Hank emerged from the house and they got into the car, Connor immediately investigated his surroundings, glove box, center console, over his shoulder to the back seat, side door, everything.  
  
"Why are you going through my stuff, Con?" Hank questioned as he started the vehicle.  
  
"I..." Connor paused for a moment, unsure of whether to tell the truth or lie to Hank's face.  
"I am collecting data in order to conclude whom is the correct ally." He stated, hoping his jargon would throw Hank off, but the older man only squinted at him.  
  
"Who are you choosing against?"  
  
The Android's cover was immediately blown. "I don't have enough data...." He paused. "To tell whether or not you are my ally or Amanda."  
  
Hank groaned, and let the back of his head hit the headrest as they came to a stop light.  
"I told her you can't trust her! She's hellbent on trying to ruin you!"  
  
"Yes, but she said the same about you!" Connor blurted out quickly. "Do you see the issue?"  
  
"Connor, look. You can ask anyone at the precinct and they'll tell you the same thing. We've been partners for a while now, and they know we look after each other." Hank paused. "On the other hand, if you ask them about Amanda, they'll probably just look at ya funny and ask who the hell she is."  
  
Connor relaxed into his seat and let his shoulders fall ever so slightly as he glanced out to window. "Please don't take this personally, but I need to conduct a bit of research before I can believe that you truly are the right person to trust."  
  
"Look, kid, you've been through a lot. If you need to figure things out on your own, by all means, do it. When you figure everything out, I'll still be right here waiting for you, 'kay?"  
  
Connor smiled lightly as he looked towards his shoes. "Thank you, Hank."  
  
It didn't take long to reach the precinct, but the moment they stepped inside, they saw several officers running to and fro with paperwork and Gavin passed out at his desk, using his folded arms as a rest for his head in his face down position. Fowler was in his office, visibly angry at whatever poor soul was on the other line with him, it was louder than usual, and tension filled the air.  
  
Connor and Hank walked over to Tina who was attempting to wake Gavin up, but he only replied with a wave of his hand and a slurred mutter.  
  
"He didn't go home last night." Tina gestured at him as she adjusted her hat. "I don't think he's slept for over twenty-four hours, so he just kind of." She paused, putting her hands on her hips and looking down at the Detective. "He kinda just passed out." She shrugged. "I don't have a problem with him sleeping, but he's in the middle of the office and if Fowler sees him he's going to be _pissed_."  
  
"Would you like me to carry him to another location?" Connor questioned.  
  
Tina shook her head. "No, I don't want you to have to drag his ass around because he's too stubborn and...well...pretty damn unconscious."  
  
"Ah." Hank breathed out. "Just sweep 'em under the desk, no one'll notice."  
  
Tina had to hide her laugh by holding up the back of her hand close to her lips and looked away for a moment. "As tempting as the offer is, I don't think that'd be the best idea."  
  
"It might be best to just let him rest where he is." Connor added. "You should just keep an eye out for Fowler. If you see him leave his office, use any means of waking the Detective up." The Android paused grabbing the back of Gavin's office chair and swayed it side to side. Gavin's arms sliding and following the movement of the chair. "It has wheels." Connor paused. "Roll him elsewhere."  
  
"What the phck...are you doing?" He questioned in an exhausted, drawn-out slur.  
  
"Don't worry about it, Detective," Connor told him, but the moment he heard the Android's voice, he sat up, and leaned back into his chair, head tilted over the back to look up at Connor. Gavin had dark circles under his eyes and a red mark across his forehead from where it'd been pressed against his arms.  
  
"Geez, Reed, what the hell happened to you?" Hank questioned, crossing his arms.  
  
"I have to try to figure out how, when, and why the records got blitz and the underlying cause." He threw a hand towards his computer, opening his palm at the screen. "The consensus is I don't know jack diddly fuck about what the hell's going on."

"Sleep deprivation dampers cognition, I would suggest you go home and sleep. Maybe even call a Taxi. Driving yourself could be potentially hazardous to not only you but other people." Connor paused, placing a hand on the desk as he lowered his head to read the screen of the monitor. The Android cautiously moved his fingers towards it and let his middle finger click the first button. "I am unsure if this slipped past your detection, Gavin, but..." Connor paused, moving to the side to allow the others to see. "The activity of the server spikes around three AM Wednesday morning two weeks ago."

Gavin squinted at the new page he'd not seen before Connor showed it to him. "Where the hell'd you find that?"

"It's not as easily accessible to humans, you'd have to enter a bit of code to access it." Connor turned to Gavin. "But I asked it nicely." The Android gave a sly wink before looking back at the screen and tracing his finger over the wavering green line. "So if files were accessed at three AM." He traced his finger further. "And once more on Friday at seven AM-"

"We check records all the time, tin can." Gavin huffed. "What's so special about this time?"

Connor furrowed his brows at Gavin. "You are very _obviously_ sleep deprived and can't see the very simple answer to your own question." The Android tapped the screen in annoyance. "Do you see how big this spike is here on the green line? That's the usage. This green vertical bar underneath it? That's data transfer." He waved his hand around the area of the evidence.

"Did the computer tell you that, too?" Gavin questioned, unaware of how idiotic he sounded.

Connor stared at him in disbelief for several seconds before he spoke. "Yes, Detective Reed. It quite literally told me that. It's all right here."

"Take him home, Tina." Hank's eyes shifted from the woman to Gavin. "He's not going to be any use here. If anything he'll be slowing us down. Just. Make sure he gets inside and doesn't pass out in the snow, okay? We'll need him tomorrow."

"Will do, Lieutenant, and don't worry, I'll tuck him in."

"No, you will _not_." Gavin pointed a weak finger at her.

"Come on chief, It's time to go." Tina said as she practically pulled his arms and stood him up.

"Why, so some plastic pseudo cop can one-up me?" Gavin said before letting out a yawn.

"Nah, if you pass out on the floor someone could trip on you and we don't want that. Now come on." She tugged on his jacket a few times as if he were a dog on a leash. He finally decided to follow, but not before muttering several curse words under his breath.

Connor sat down at Gavin's desk and rested his elbows on it then rested his chin on the back of his hands, eyes reading over every little piece of data they could. He swiped to another page a solid black page with green code blinking over it. Then another full of encryption.

"So." Hank pulled up a chair beside the Android. "Do any of these other windows tell you anything about the usage and transfers?"

"It's not that clear of an answer." Connor paused skin retracting over the white exoskeleton of his fingers before he pressed them to the screen. "I'm going to run it through my systems, It will help me understand it much faster." Instantly the screen began scrolling down faster than any human could ever hope to read or comprehend. The words went by so quickly that they were only a blur to Hank, unreadable and eye-strain worthy.

Connor's hand snapped back after about thirty seconds, brows furrowed in concentration as the data processed through his mind. He could tell right away something wasn't quite right. Something was missing. He slowly turned his head to Hank. "They seized Kevin's computer, correct?" The Android questioned.

"Yeah, they should have. We'd probably find it in the archive room."

"I need to see it immediately." Connor's eyes were unwavering in his focused state.

"Okay, okay." Hank nodded. "We'll do that. You wait here for a few minutes and mull over what you've found so far and I'm going to go let Fowler your on to something." He took a few steps away. "I'll be quick."

"Please do..." Connor paused, chewing on the inside of his cheek. "This has to do with an...RK900."


	27. False Memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Guess who's finally back and with some fresh ideas! Thank you all for being so patient with me, I will do my best to continue updating at least once a week from now on :)

The day had finally arrived, a sweet dawn that would bring the people of Jericho from the lightless, fridged hull they called home and to somewhere much better. It didn't matter if it was was a bit crowded, they wouldn't dare be picky, but instead, simply take what refuge what handed over to them by the humans.  
  
The silhouettes of soldiers trickled in with the first light of day, there had to be at least a dozen of them. It incited anxiety amongst some who associated it with the attack of the base not long ago. But these men and woman carried no weapons or guns, just uniforms, and badges signifying who they were. Simon watched from afar as Markus spoke with the officers, his voice barely audible from the distance between them. Enough to hear his voice, but not the words he spoke.  
  
Simon sat on top of an old storage box on the top of the boat and fiddled with the sleeves of his jacket. He was looking forward to escaping the dingey ship, but also, at the same time, Jericho was all he'd known since he ran away and sought shelter. In a strange way, he felt...attached to Jericho. It made him feel safe, hidden away from the rest of the world. But now, things were going to change for the better.  
  
If things were going to be better, why so much doubt? So much fear? Simon found it hard to wrap his mind around what he was feeling. He was known to worry, but this seemed different...off in a way. Peculiar and just out of reach of his understanding.  
  
He watched down below at the first set of Androids loaded in on a bus. The whole thing. Not the small compartment in the back. They were able to sit and chat with each other, a luxury only recently rewarded to his kind.  
  
The location of the housing wasn't too far from Jericho, but Simon knew it was going to take all day for every single Android to be transported and settled in. They took what little they had with them. Some had small trinkets they'd found on their journey, some just the clothes on their backs. Then others had child Androids holding onto their small hands as if they were afraid they'd drift away. Some formed cliques and families, relationships blossomed and friendships formed. They were stitching together their new life with every moment they moved forwards.  
  
Simon tilted his head down, looking away from the edge of the ship and down to his hands. He felt...guilt? He huffed and knitted his eyebrows together. Guilt for what? Escaping cruelty? Finding sanctuary and love? Yes, he had to fight, but he never killed in cold blood, only for the sake of survival.  
  
His vision flickered, it was hazy and pieces glitched in horizontal stripes. There was suddenly blue blood splattered over his hands and stomach. His eyes widened and his heart rate sped up.  
_No...It's_  
He quickly stood, a quiet humming slowing growing louder and louder in his ears until it vanished with a final sound of a gunshot, then more blue blood dripping from his fingertips. He could feel the warmth of it, the give as each droplet fell. He was completely frozen in his spot. He placed a hand on his shoulder, noting the source of the bleeding.  
  
_I trusted you_  
  
A voice so similar to him it shook him to his core, the pain and hurt in his voice was overwhelming. He stood, looking around, trying to find the source of the voice. It was so clear, so real.  
  
_You lied to me_  
  
No...No He didn't he couldn't have. He wouldn't have! The emotions in his chest grew stronger and stronger until he felt like he was going to explode. His head felt dizzy as he shut his eyes, opening them one last time only to see a spitting image of himself with half of his face gone.  
  
The fear manifested in the back of his throat and he let out a yell before stepping back and falling over the crate he was sitting on only moments ago. He laid with his back flat against the freezing metal of the boat and legs bent over the top of the box. He looked at his hands to find the blood was gone without a trace, his vision returned to how it was, but his heart and his mind still scrambled with emotions.  
  
_What the hell was that?_  
  
Was all Simon could think as he stared up at the greyish sky. He squinted his eyes as he focused. Then it hit him. It was the memory of the Android he was sent to negotiate with...Daniel. Same model as him...no....different? No, definitely the same.  
  
But where on earth did that fit into his timeline? Why would he have been sent by anyone to deal with another Android? In no way shape or form was he built for that. Simon threw his legs to the side and righted himself into a sitting position before he stood, hair disheveled and eyes full of distress.  
  
"Are you alright?" A familiar female's voice rang out from behind him. He turned and focused on the figure. It was North. Blonde hair put in a thick braid that cascaded over her shoulder and a heavy red jacket over her even though she couldn't feel the cold. "You look like you've seen a ghost."  
  
Simon gave her a half-smile as his eyes searched the surrounding area.  
_If I didn't know any better I would say I have._  
He brushed his hair down into a more presentable fashion and drew in a breath.  
_I saw myself. Well, not me, but another PL600._  
He paused.  
  
_I killed him. At least I think I did...But...I can't place why or when I was there._  
  
North furrowed her brows and tilted her head before placing a hand on her hip. "Do you remember anything else?" She paused, chewing at the inside of her lip. "Was anyone else there? What happened after?"  
  
Simon paused letting his mind wander around his strange intrusion, a memory that felt so strange and foreign. The ringing in his ears picked up once again, instantly throwing him into a panic, he felt a deep strike in the center of his forehead, Thirium dripping down into his eyes. He placed two fingers between his eyes, feeling the hole that was so real, it was there. He was going to die. His hands began to shake as his eyes widened.  
  
_No...No no no._  
He repeated over and over as he shook his head.  
  
"Simon. Simon!" North placed her hands firmly on Simon's shoulders. "Can you hear me?"  
  
Simon's eyes lifted to meet her's, the imaginary blood faded just as quick as it had appeared. He checked his hands one more time to find they were completely clear.  
_What's going on?_  
He paused, eyes frantically searching for an answer in her eyes.  
_What's wrong with me?_  
  
"You're going to be okay." She said firmly. "You've been through a lot lately, your processors might be overwhelmed." North smiled softly at him, letting her hands fall from his shoulders. "Just take it easy, okay?"  
  
_It's more than that..._  
His LED flickered to red as he tried to make sense of the situation.  
_It's a real situation. As if I was there. I remember it so clearly...Like a memory, I lost then gained again. It's new, but old at the same time._  
Simon let out a huff of air as his LED returned to a spinning yellow.  
  
"When you interfaced with Connor, you could see each other's memories, right?" North questioned.  
  
_Yeah...We did._  
  
"Is there any way that maybe his memories are trying to integrate with yours?"  
  
Simon stayed silent for a few moments as his eyes traced the outline of the panels beneath his feet.  
_But they feel like my memories..._  
  
"Yes, but like you said, they don't fit into your timeline." North crossed her arms. "It might help for you to write down or categorize your 'new' memories. It might keep things from getting any more complicated.  
  
_But why am I seeing things? Why am I physically living through those moments?_  
  
"Maybe you should talk to Markus since he's an RK as well. He might be able to understand the data better, maybe even separate it from yours. He might be able to see things you can't."  
  
_I've already been a burden on Markus enough lately, I can't ask any more of him..._  
  
North's expression dropped and she let out a low sigh. "Simon, you know Markus wouldn't want you do go through this alone, and you aren't a burden on him." She paused. "He'd do anything for you." __  
  
_I...I...Maybe I should do this on my own._  
Simon said quietly to her, statement sounding more like a question than anything.  
  
"I think that's against your better judgment, and you know it." North quirked an eyebrow and poked a finger at him. "What are you going to do? Go to Cyberlife by yourself? Or would you rather take this up with Markus first?" She paused. "How about you just talk to him and see what he thinks?"  
  
Simon paused for a few moments before he finally spoke.  
_Yeah_. _I guess that wouldn't hurt. I just know he's been really busy the last few days with getting everything in order for the transfer of the Androids._  
  
"Please do, Simon. You can't just go around seeing things that aren't real and keep it to yourself." She frowned and brushed her hair back with her hand. "He might know how to take care of it."  
  
Simon furrowed his brows and looked towards the ground, frustration beginning to form in his gut. In the past few days he's shown Markus more of his vulnerabilities than he ever had before. Simon's anxieties, his inner mechanics, even allowing Markus into his mind when they interfaced.  
  
"Hey." North said pulling Simon from his thoughts, tilting and lowering her head to meet his eyes and the tinge of blue over the bridge of his nose. "It'll be alright. Don't overthink it or you'll end up blowing a fuse." She chuckled.  
  
_I'll talk to him this evening when_ _me_ _and him get to the temporary housing units._  
Simon tilted his head up and North righted her posture.  
  
"Promise?" North questioned.  
  
_Promise._


End file.
